


This is How Our Story Ends

by DancingInTheDark282



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Compound, Avengers Family, Avengers Tower, B.A.R.F. | Binarily Augmented Retro Framing, BAMF Avengers, BAMF Peter Parker, BAMF Tony Stark, Babysitting, Domestic Avengers, F/M, How Do I Tag, Hurt Peter Parker, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mario Kart, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Not Canon Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Not Spider-Man: Homecoming Compliant, Original Character-centric, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is Trying His Best, Protective Avengers, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Peter Parker, Romance, Secret Identity, Teen Romance, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 55,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27312088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingInTheDark282/pseuds/DancingInTheDark282
Summary: As a self-described Playboy, Tony Stark knew there was always a possibility of there being a kid, somewhere, who carried the Stark gene. He didn’t realize that this possibility would be brought to the lobby of his work, held by a crazy woman who demanded his presence and quite literally shoved into his arms.There were some logistical issues at hand. First and foremost, who the hell the woman was, because he didn’t remember. The second, was the kid, a little girl with dark hair and the most brilliant blue eyes, and the third was his long time girlfriend, Pepper. He expected some kind of reaction from her, but honestly? He should have known better.Pepper was calm through the whole conversation, smiling softly at the little girl. When asked later, she simply said, “It’s not her fault that she was born into this.”And that was how Tony Stark ended up with joint custody of his child, which later turned into full custody when her mother went too far into the drug world.Fast forward ten years, Tony had a sixteen-going-on-seventeen-year-old daughter that no one knew about. And she was okay with it... until she met Peter Parker.
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker/Original Female Character
Comments: 64
Kudos: 245





	1. But This is How It Starts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers!! Welcome to my first story (YAY)!! So this chapter is just kind of setting up our plot, please, please let me know what you think! I'm really excited to be posting this story so I hope you'll all enjoy!!  
> ~ DancingInTheDark282

Tony Stark was a very public person. His private life seemed non existent since everyone knew who he was, where he was, what he was doing and so on. So, for a man who grew up in the public eye, he knew exactly what to do where his parents went _wrong_ about raising a child:

Keeping them _out_ of the public eye.

As a self-described Playboy, he knew there was always a possibility of there being a kid, somewhere, who carried the Stark gene. He didn’t realize that this possibility would be brought to the lobby of his work, held by a crazy woman who demanded his presence and quite literally shoved into his arms.

Of course, there were some logistical issues at hand. First and foremost, who the hell the woman was, because he didn’t remember. The second, was the kid, a little girl with dark hair and the most brilliant blue eyes he’d ever seen, and the third was his long time girlfriend, Pepper. He expected some kind of reaction from her, but honestly? He should have known better.

Pepper was calm through the whole conversation, smiling softly at the little girl. When asked later, she simply said, “It’s not her fault that she was born into this.”

And that was how Tony Stark ended up with joint custody of his _child_ , the word seemed foreign in his mouth, which later turned into full custody when her mother went too far into the drug world.

Fast forward ten years, Tony had a sixteen-going-on-seventeen-year-old daughter that no one knew about. Except Rhodey. And Happy. And the avengers, because the less people knew about her the better. He was curious as to how long it could go on, how long he could blame the excess texts on Pepper. No one seemed to question it, even though Pepper was one of the busiest people on the planet.

They were going to tell them, tell the world, once she turned 18. They had to. But for now, they kept their little secret between them. Their life was shockingly normal for the most part. They had dinner together most nights, did movie nights when they could, worked together in the lab. She hung out with the Avengers as much as she could, but strategically kept herself out of attention.

She walked out of her room, closing the door softly behind her. She made her way down the hall, the entire time her eyes glued to the Starkpad in front of her. She heard someone cooking in the kitchen, and she briefly glanced up, smiling at Pepper.

“Morning Pepper.”

“Good morning,” she checked the clock, “almost afternoon.”

Melanie shrugged, “I was up late. Helping dad.”

She shook her head, “You and your father are going to give me grey hair. What on earth were you two working on?”

“Mark 22.”

She rolled her eyes, a hint of a smile on her face, “Of course.” She sighed, watching as Melanie scrolled on the Starkpad, flipping through diagrams, absentmindedly sitting on the stool in front of the island, “You are your father’s daughter.”

She grinned, “And you love me for it.”

Pepper laughed softly, “Yeah, I do.”

She pulled up another diagram, calling, “FRI, can you project this for me?”

“ _Of course, Tiny Stark.”_

She rolled her eyes at the nickname, “Please change my name back to Mel.”

“ _Of course, Mel.”_

The Ironman suit appeared in front of her, and she delicately spun it around. She glanced at Pepper, “What do you think of a colour change?”

Pepper raised an eyebrow, “You want to change the colours of your dad’s suit?”

Melanie shrugged, “Or I get my _own_ suit and change the colours.”

Pepper pursed her lips, sighing, “You know how your father feels about that.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s dangerous and scary, and people don’t know I exist so a different Ironman who is clearly smaller would raise a lot of questions,” her tone was bored. She’d had the argument many times. Enough times that it was civil now.

Pepper smiled, “Exactly.”

“How about when my identity is out there? Like, Melanie Austin-Stark.”

Pepper stared down at the eggs in the pan, letting out a slow sigh, “That is up to your father.”

Melanie smiled, “That wasn’t a no.”

Pepper gave her a half-hearted glare, “It also wasn’t a yes.”

She shrugged, moving on with the conversation, “Want me to go grab dad?”

She nodded, and Melanie gracefully slipped off the stool, swiping away the hologram. She made her way down to the lab, assuming her father would be there. She stopped at the door to the lab, pressing her hand against the scanner. It flashed blue and the door slid open, letting the ACDC blare through.

She found herself smiling, the familiar tune bringing her back to late nights in the lab. She watched him for a moment, maneuvering the hologram ahead of him, and she called, “Dad! Dad!”

With no response, she shouted at the ceiling, “FRIDAY, lower the music please!” The song died down, making Tony look up. He looked surprised to see her there, standing in a pair of shorts and a large t-shirt, smiling at him, “Pepper’s almost done breakfast.”

“Thanks, Mel. How’d you sleep?” he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and tugging her into his side, his lips kissing her temple.

“Not bad.”

“Any dreams?”

She shook her head, walking with him down the hallway, “Nope. Blinked and I was awake again.”

“Not always a bad thing.”

She shrugged, walking up the stairs, “Anyone joining us for breakfast?”

He heaved an exasperated sigh, “I’ll say no, but probably be proved wrong.”

She nodded, her smile turning to a grin as she heard familiar voices filter in from the kitchen, “Where are the two peas in a pod?”

Melanie walked in, playfully shoving Clint from behind, “Right here.”

He turned around, tossing an arm around her excitedly, “Hey Kiddo. How you been?”

“Good. Where’ve you been?”

He shrugged a shoulder, “Busting Hydra bases, the usual.”

“Did you bring Nat?”

Clint feigned hurt, his hand over his chest, “What, you bored of me already?”

Natasha walked in, shaking her head, “Of course not. She just missed her favourite aunt.”

Melanie looked over her shoulder, grinning at her redheaded aunt. Her hair was pulled into a French braid and she wore a pair of jeans and a knitted sweater, looking completely at ease in the compound. “Hey, Nat,” she smiled.

“Hey.”

They sat down around the table, as if eating with the Avengers was the most normal thing in the world. In all honesty, it felt completely normal. Melanie watched the Avengers in action, saw them training, saw the videos from the fight in New York, but she also saw them all come around for game nights, playing Mario Kart and laughing and joking with one another. In fact, there was a tournament set up for the next day, and Melanie was determined to beat Clint at least once.

The doors slid open and Rhodey walked in, smiling at the familiar sight in front of him. Pepper saw his smile, watching as his eyes drifted to Tony and Melanie, sitting next to each other and laughing. Fatherhood, despite how under prepared he’d been, looked good on him.

Rhodey sat down, asking, “How is everyone this fine morning?”

Everyone gave some semblance of the same answer, varying degrees of good, making Rhodey laugh, “Wow. You guys are talkative.”

Melanie grinned, “How are you, Rhodey?”

He smiled at her, taking a seat across from Natasha and thanking Pepper as she placed his eggs in front of him, “I’m great, thanks for asking. Any exciting plans for the day?”

Melanie shrugged, “I’ve got a bit of homework, but I was hoping to go into the city?” She eyed her dad, making him smile.

“Sure thing, Kiddo. You’re gonna take your watch, right?”

She nodded, lifting her wrist to show it was already on. He nodded approvingly, and they quietly went back to breakfast, listening to Clint and Natasha argue over how things went down at the Hydra base. Melanie personally thought that Natasha’s was more accurate, but Clint’s was definitely more interesting.

She excused herself to go get dressed, excited to head onto the streets. She loved living in New York. She loved being able to walk out on the street and people watch, seeing how average people spent their days. Even in the cold of December, she wanted to go out. She pulled on a pair of black tights, matching them with a dress shirt and sweater combination, and carefully pulled back the front of her hair in an elasitc. She walked out of her room, grabbing her coat out of the closet, settling on a pair of ankle boots, and called into the suite, “I’m heading out!”

“Love you!”

“Be safe!”

“Keep your phone on you!”

“Be careful!”

“Don’t let anyone mess with you!”

“Bring me back a coffee!”

She snorted, rolling her eyes at Clint’s request, stepping into the elevator. She rode it down, all the way to the underground garage, calling a thank you to FRIDAY before walking past the fancy cars. She pushed open the door, heading up the staircase and exiting through the top into the empty house across from Stark Industries. It was built so that she could walk out of it without raising suspicion as to who she was. She used it often enough to make it comfortable.

She walked out the front door, welcoming the chilly bite of the December air against her cheeks. She walked down the street, reveling in the fact that no one knew who she was. It was crazy, to have gone from living with a drug addicted mother, part time living in luxury with her father, to living full time with her billionaire father… and no one knew about it.

She walked down the street, tucking her hands safely into her pockets glancing up at the large apartment complexes. It was quite a walk to get to a street with any mom and pop shops, but she didn’t mind. She enjoyed the fresh air.

Just as she slid in her wireless earbuds, she heard it; screams erupting from the building nearest her. The doors were thrown open, people swarming out of them, almost tackling her straight to the ground. A man ran directly into her, the two of them crashing into the sidewalk. She hit the pavement and struggled to push the man off as people still swarmed around them. She could just hear the people around her screaming, shouting to everyone nearby to run.

From the depths of the store, she heard breaking glass and a monstrous roar. The man finally scrambled to his feet, not bothering to apologize and booked it down the street. Melanie pushed herself up daring a glance in the store.

It was large, green and definitely not human. It stood at a startling nine feet, covered in green scales that shone in the flickering light. Melanie didn’t let herself stay long staring; one glance at his impossibly sharp nails, and she was gone. She started running, her hand already pressing down on the watch face, pleading silently.

The glass displays shattered, glass raining down as the monster forced itself through. A horrifying scream echoed from its mouth as it started down the street. Melanie dove into the nearest side alley, pulling herself right against the wall. She held her breath a moment, listening and slowly peered her head around the corner. The monster tore through the wall of another store, a high-end tech store, disappearing inside. She heard the screams from inside and forced herself to her feet.

She started towards the storefront hesitantly, terrified of every bang and crash from inside. A woman ran through, collapsing directly against Melanie. Melanie struggled under her weight and helped her away from the store, blood pouring down her head. “Come on,” Melanie assured her, pulling her along and away from the ruined store.

A shadow flew past her on the sidewalk, and she looked up, her eyes widening at what she saw. Spiderman. She’d heard about him, but never once seen him. He swung down, directly into the building, and it erupted into chaos once again. She got the woman about fifty metres from the store when the police cars started pulling up. Instantly, police swarmed the street, guns up. Two took the woman from Melanie’s arms, guiding her towards a waiting ambulance.

The street was filled with the wails of sirens, cops shouting, squealing tires. From above, a familiar sound greeted Melanie. The Ironman suit hit the ground in his typical land, on one knee, fist on the ground. He stood, his eyes surveying the scene until they landed on Melanie. She pointed towards the store. As he approached, lifting his hands, police officers flanked him, guns all up. They moved in slowly, one step at a time, towards the now eerily silent store.

Melanie watched, holding her breath. It didn’t get easier watching her dad put himself in danger, even when she was sure he would win. From inside the store, a dark figure slowly emerged. Tony kept his repulsor up, calling, “Hands up.”

“Mr. Stark?” Spiderman walked through, hands up like he asked, slightly curling over his left side.

Melanie watched her dad drop his repulsor, seemingly starting a conversation with the masked vigilante. She noticed Spiderman’s favouring of his left side during their conversation. The police seemed to join in, one talking for the rest, and Melanie felt herself sag in relief.

That was the one downside to having superheroes in New York… there were also supervillains.

The masked vigilante gave a salute before throwing his arm up, shooting a web and swinging away. Her dad turned to where she was, the blue eyes of the mask asking a silent question. She nodded, held up a brief thumbs up, and turned, walking away from the scene.

Like she knew it would, her phone began buzzing. She picked up, shoving her phone in her pocket and talking through her earbuds, “Dad, I’m fine, I swear. I only pressed the panic button because it was clearly not human.”

“ _Well, FRIDAY picked up on some scratches on your hands, is that okay to you?”_

“Dad.” She laughed, “It’s just a scrape because I fell on the sidewalk, nothing I haven’t gotten in the lab.” She shook her head, “I’m fine, I promise.” The line was quiet for a moment, so she asked casually, “Do you know who it was?”

She heard him sigh loudly as she pulled on the door to her favourite coffee shop, “ _No. Some weird mutant, probably an experiment gone wrong. I need to check in with the kid though—”_

“What kid?” she cut off, her eyebrows drawing together.

“ _Not a kid,_ the kid _; Spiderman, keep up_ ,” he said obviously.

She froze, “You know him?”

“ _Duh_.”

“Sorry, didn’t know you guys were at nicknames already.”

“ _Yes, we’re best friends and are gonna have a sleepover tonight_ ,” he drawled. She heard him land back at the tower, “ _you’re gonna need to head home by the way. The minute your panic switch went off your super family freaked out_.”

She sighed, “Yeah, kind of figured as much. I just need to grab a coffee.”

She heard his laugh, and ended the call, walking up to the counter to order.

…

The changing always took a toll. The morphing from Lizard to Connors was painful. The scales had to retreat back into his skin, the nails had to recede, and his arm had to sever itself off. Every time it began to hurt more, but it was worth it. The voice always told him it was worth it.

**Bring it to Beck**

The doctor collapsed, failing to catch himself with his one hand as his bones shrank, snapping and popping within his body. He placed his forehead against the cool, wet, ground of the sewer system, struggling to pant through the pain, “Let me just—”

**BRING IT TO BECK**

The voice roared in his ears, and he slammed his eyes closed as finally, the transformation stopped. He forced his hand under him, keeping the small part between his thumb and forefinger.

Echoing footsteps sounded from his left, ringing around the tunnel. He glanced up, watching the shadow of a man move along the pipe until Quentin came around the bend. He stopped, bringing his hands up to cover his eyes, “Jesus, Connors, cover yourself. Did you get the part?”

He shakily reached for his lab coat, pulling it over his shoulders before holding his hand out, “Here.”

Quentin dared a glance, before he smiled widely, arms outstretched at his sides, “See? I knew you could do it. _Well done_ , Connors, well done.” He grabbed the small piece of equipment, the processing chip that he needed in order to begin his plan. “You run into any problems?”

Connors shook his head, “No. It was simple.”

**LIES**

“I’m not lying!” he shouted, causing Quentin to look up.

He raised an eyebrow, “ _Are_ you lying, Connors? Because if you’re lying,” he made a tsk sound, shaking his head, “I won’t appreciate that. And you just gave me the last piece I need to finish my drones, and you don’t want to be the test subject, do you? Do you, Connors?” He didn’t give him a chance to reply. He asked again, slowly, his tone darker, “Did you run into any problems?”

Connors was shaking as the voice inside took over, speaking for him, “ _Spiderman showed up. He tried to fight us.”_

Quentin nodded slowly, turning and starting down the pipe, “Does he know what you took?”

Connors shook his head, the voice replying, “ _No. He was busy trying to save the people.”_

Quentin nodded approvingly, smiling over his shoulder, “You know what, Connors? I kinda like the other guy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaah!!!! Thank you so much for reading!!! What did y'all think?? Did you like the team up at the end there????  
> Next chapter we get to meet Peter (YAY) and I already have second hand embarrassment for them lol  
> See you next time,  
> ~ DancingInTheDark


	2. The Web Shooter Incident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW  
> Can I just say-- the response to this???? I was not expecting the number of hits that I got so thank you all SO much!!!  
> Alright, because of the response, I thought I'd post a bit earlier than scheduled so here we go, Melanie gets to meet Peter!! YAY for us, not so YAY for them  
> Also, this chapter is WAYYY longer than I meant it to be, but I honestly loved it too much to cut it down  
> Let's do this!!

Melanie slid into the lab, “Da—” she froze, making eye contact with a boy her age, with curly hair and big, brown eyes. She froze, slowly stepping back, “Um, you are not who I’m looking for.”

He looked at her confused, “Um, how’d, how did you get in here?”

She pointed at the door, deadpanning, “The door.”

He laughed, awkwardly crossing his arms, “Yeah, but, _how_ did you get in here?”

She smiled, stepping slightly closer, her fingers itching towards her watch, “I think I should be asking _you_ that.”

He shook his head adamantly, his voice getting higher, “No, no, I’m an intern here, I swear.”

Before she could press the buttons on her watch, the door behind the boy opened, and Tony walked in, smiling brightly, and hauling a chest plate over his shoulder, “Hey Mel, whatcha doing in here?”

The boy looked between the two of them, his confusion mirroring Mel’s perfectly. He coughed, “Uh, Mr. Stark?”

He looked between them again and nodded, “Right, Mel, this is Peter Parker, my personal intern, and Peter this is Melanie,” he hesitated for a split second before smiling, “Screw it. This is my daughter.”

Peter’s eyes went wide, and he spun around to look at Melanie, his brown eyes bugging out of his head. “Y-your daughter?”

Melanie smiled though she sent a look of concern towards her father, _what happened to keeping a secret?_ He just smiled back and tossed his head towards Peter who was staring between the two of them in shock. Melanie made her way into the lab, a hand out, “Hi, Peter. I’m Melanie.”

“Hi,” he shook her hand before he shook his head, “Sorry. I just, I didn’t know that Mr. Stark—”

“I get it. No one knows I exist, I don’t take offence to it.”

“Yeah,” he laughed, turning back to Tony, “you have a daughter?”

Tony nodded, grinning, “Yep. You can’t see the family resemblance?” Melanie rolled her eyes. They didn’t look anything alike. The only thing they had in common was their passions and mannerisms. Tony’s smile faded slightly, “Anyways, remember all those NDAs that you signed? Yeah, time to enforce those.”

Peter nodded heartily, "Of course."

She cleared her throat, “Am I safe to assume he helps on all your projects?”

Tony nodded, “Yep. Little genius. Might give you a run for your money.”

She gave him a dry smile, walking further into the lab, her tablet tucked tightly against the crook of her elbow, “So you know how Mark 22—” she paused, her eyes landing on the hologram in front of Peter. “Is that Spiderman’s suit?”

His eyes went wide and he uselessly stepped in front of it, attempting to block it from view, but Tony called, “Yeah. The kid works closely with him. He’s been helping me improve his suit.”

“Huh,” she gave Peter an impressed onceover, “How do you know Spiderman?”

“Well, I don’t really _know_ him know him, just kind of work with him in passing.”

Tony snorted, “Sure. He’s kind of a mini Avenger, so he’s been to the tower a few times.”

Melanie’s jaw dropped, “He’s been here? How come I’ve never met him?”

Tony shrugged, “He’s got a mask on for a reason, Mel. He doesn’t want people knowing who he is. Besides you're supposed to be a secret too.”

Melanie huffed, leaning against the table. “Who am I gonna tell?” she asked sarcastically, gesturing to the otherwise empty room.

She turned back to her dad, “So, back to Mark 22,” and Tony smiled, watching as she dove into the analytics and details, not missing a beat. He didn’t fail to notice Peter’s awed look, and honestly, he didn’t blame him. Melanie was brilliant, no surprise there, and she was passionate. 

Tony nodded along, asking questions, trying to throw her for a loop, but she just smiled easily through them, not stuttering once. Peter tossed in his opinion here and there, the two of them pulling up holograms, the conversation shifting from Tony to just between the two of them.

Tony just watched, highly amused as they nerded out. They spoke easily, Peter not stuttering, Melanie moving knowingly, the two of them discussing possible cooling upgrades to the new suit. Tony waited until their conversation finished, and he clapped his hands, “You two should work on Spiderman’s suit together. Pete,” the boy in question turned, his eyes slightly wide, “You were trying to hold more web fluid, right? Spiderman kept running out too soon?”

He nodded, glancing over at Melanie, “Yeah. The web shooters can only hold so many cartridges.”

Melanie nodded thoughtfully, making her way over to the Spiderman hologram. She zoomed in on his wrist, pulling up the web shooter’s current state. She glanced over at Peter, “Could you not just add a second loop of cartridges?”

He shook his head, “It takes away the flexibility. A lot of the web slinging is in his wrists, so if he can’t move them—”

“Noted.” She hummed, drumming her fingers along the counter, “What if,” she moved the hologram, creating a second loop of cartridges, and dragging it up to the forearm of Spiderman, “you just moved the second ring of cartridges? That way, he’d have a second ring at the ready, that he could slide up to take the place of the first ring?”

Peter shook his head, “It’s under his suit. There’d be no way he could put in the second ring with the suit on.”

“Wait, are the web shooters detached?”

Peter nodded, and Melanie asked, “Do you have a prototype?” He nodded, walking over to his backpack and pulling out a set of bracelets. She raised an eyebrow, “You’re carrying them in your backpack?”

He laughed, “Yeah, not my safest move.” He handed her one, and she delicately took it in her hand. He put the other one on, pressing a button and she watched as it wrapped around his wrist, another section reaching into the middle of his palm. She placed hers on the counter, reaching for his hand and turning it over.

“So you can’t put it in the middle of the palm, that would interfere with the trigger.”

Peter nodded, “And if you put it on the wrist it takes away his mobility.”

“How big are the cartridges?”

He reached into the web shooter, pulling out the small, pill-like capsule. “I’ve thought about stacking them,” he gestured around his wrist, “Like two rows, but you’re still taking away some mobility.”

Melanie stared at the web shooter in front of her, at the hologram, and then back at the web shooter. She mumbled, “This is a tough one, Peter.” Tony cleared his throat, making the two of them jump, “I don’t think I’ve ever been ignored in an engineering problem. Gotta say, I’m slightly offended.”

“Sorry dad,” Melanie laughed. The word seemed so simple, but Peter still did a double take. _Mr. Stark was a dad? Of a teenage girl?_

Tony shrugged, “I’m not actually offended. I’m glad you two get along.”

Melanie smiled, “It’s a wicked project.” She turned back to Peter, “You sure Spiderman is okay with me working on it?”

He nodded, “Yeah, he’s pretty cool, about that I mean, like he wouldn’t mind—”

“Got it.” She smiled, cutting off his rambling. She glanced over at Tony, “ _You_ okay if I work on this project?”

He nodded, smiling at her brightly, “Yeah.”

And honestly, he was. She didn’t have any friends that stuck around from her old life, she did her classes online, except for a few lab projects that she had to go in-school for. All things considered; she didn’t get a lot of chances to be herself around kids her age. If her and Peter wanted to work together; he was all for it.

The two immediately launched into conversation again, bouncing between the hologram and the actual web shooter. Tony laughed to himself, seeing Peter get flustered every time Melanie complimented Spiderman, but he also enjoyed watching them work. This was the next generation, and they were tiny geniuses.

The evening dragged on, the three tinkering away in the lab, Guns N’ Roses blaring in the room.

Tony called over the music, “How do you two feel about Chinese for dinner?”

Both nodded, not looking up from their notes, making Tony smirk as he walked out of the room. Melanie offered her bag of dried blueberries to Peter, “Want some?”

“You like these too?” he asked, reaching in and grabbing a couple blueberries.

She nodded, shaking the bag, “My dad got me hooked on them.”

He looked down at his notes, avoiding her eyes as he asked, “Can I ask about that?”

She smiled inwardly, noting his hesitation, “Yeah. I know, it’s crazy, Tony Stark has a kid.”

“Yeah,” he laughed; his eyes wide as he shook his head. He turned, looking back up at her, “What grade are you in?”

“Eleven. You?”

“Eleven. I go to Midtown.”

She leaned back, mildly impressed, “Nice, Parker. That’s a good school, crazy hard to get into I’ve heard.” She paused, seeming to appraise him for a moment before she spoke again, “So,” she tossed down her pencil, “what do you want to know?”

“Um,” truthfully, he didn’t know. Was it wrong to ask who her mom was? When she got there?

She smiled easily, as if she’d done this a hundred times, “I’ve been living here since I was seven. My mom was a party-goer, met my dad, one night stand later, I was born and he didn’t know I existed. My mom was pretty whack, dragged me over here when I was four, demanding to meet with my dad. Then they got joint custody, and since my mom seemed insane, no one believed her so there was no scandal. A few websites reported it, but everyone just kind of brushed it away.” She sighed, looking down at her notes, “And when my mom OD’d, dad took me in full time. He’s kept me from the public eye pretty much for the same reason Spiderman wears a mask.”

Peter sat back, his notes forgotten as he stared at her, “I’m sorry.”

“For?” she asked, a smile on her lips.

“Everything you’ve gone through.”

She shrugged, unfazed, “It could have been worse.”

“I guess,” he nodded, tapping his pencil against the desk.

“What about you,” she grabbed another handful of blueberries, “how’d you get an internship with my dad? Last I checked, Stark Industries didn’t employ high schoolers.”

He smiled, “Yeah, there was a grant that I applied for, on a whim, and Mr. Stark- I mean, your dad picked me.” It sounded so weird to reference Mr. Stark as a father.

“Nicely done. I mean, clearly you’re good at what you do, working with Spiderman and all.”

“Thanks.”

The conversation lulled, but the silence wasn’t awkward. It was comfortable. Having Guns N’ Roses _Paradise City_ playing in the background definitely helped as they went back to their notes. She reached up, pulling her dark hair from its ponytail, struggling since she could only use one hand, but finally pulled it down. She dragged a hand through her hair, glaring at the hologram, “What if the cartridges could hold more? That way you wouldn’t have to risk the design.”

Peter shrugged, “I don’t know. The web fluid is extremely reactive, if there’s too much pressure, it basically explodes.”

“How does it withstand a fight?”

“The web shooters have a second layer that protects the cartridges.”

“Have you _tried_ filling the cartridges more?”

He slowly shook his head, “No, I didn’t really want to risk it.”

“Challenge accepted!” she grinned.

Peter laughed, “What?”

“Let’s try it! They aren’t completely full, there’s gaps for air, so if we fill them, _he’ll_ have more web fluid and _we_ won’t have to change the design.”

“You do know that this stuff could easily explode if it’s too pressurized, right?”

“That’s what makes it all the more exciting.”

He shook his head, fighting off a smile, “This can only end one of two ways.”

“I like those odds.” She nodded, pushing away the holograms and leaving them with a blank table. The duo set up two cartridges, relying on FRIDAY to do most of the programming. Once it was ready, they slowly added more and more web fluid. With every added bit of web fluid, Peter waited for it to explode. There was no way it couldn’t happen.

Melanie spoke, “Okay, another one FRI.”

They watched the fluid move from one cartridge into the tube connecting them. It made its way, disappearing inside the other cartridge, and they heard the small crack; at least Peter did. Fittingly, the cartridge was covered in spiderweb fractures for a split second before it shattered, giving Peter enough time to throw his arm across Melanie’s shoulders and tackle her to the ground as the webs exploded around them.

Melanie had no time to question why Peter was suddenly rounding on her and yanking her to the floor, because the next thing she knew, there was web _everywhere_ , and Peter was practically on top of her. Peter pushed off of her as much as he could, stuttering out apologies and refusing to meet her eyes but Melanie just laughed. She couldn’t help it. He forced his hands under him, forgetting about his web shooter for a second, and suddenly he was shooting web across the lab.

He cursed, “Shit, shit, shit!”

He lifted his hand, making Melanie laugh even harder as she dodged the string of web, “At least we now know how much it takes to actually fill the cartridges.” He barked out a laugh. They heard the doors open, and both of their heads snapped towards Tony, Melanie’s laugh dying in her throat. _Oh shit._

When Tony walked in, he expected to find the place the exact same as when he had left it. Instead, there were white webs everywhere, and on the ground, Peter and Melanie, also covered in the stuff. He thought about making a joke since the scene played out so perfectly, but he thought better of it since it was his daughter that Peter was with, and it suddenly sounded very wrong to his ears.

“I left the room for what,” he paused, glancing at the web covered clock, “Five minutes?”

Melanie forced an indignant laugh, lifting her head off the ground “I politely disagree. You definitely took at least ten minutes.”

He snorted, shaking his head as he walked into the room, “Pete, you good?”

Peter looked like he wanted to crawl in a hole right then and there. How much worse could it get? He was practically laying on top of his mentor’s daughter, stuck because of his own invention, and basically ruined the lab. And yes, the obvious joke wasn’t lost to him, making it all the more miserable. He couldn’t see it getting worse.

To prove him wrong, ACDC’s _You Shook Me All Night Long_ started playing, causing both teens to blush like mad and Tony to laugh hysterically. _Okay, now it can’t get any worse_ , he thought hopefully.

But Melanie knew it would. She dropped her head onto the ground as the door opened behind Tony and she inwardly groaned when she heard Clint’s laugh. He looked around the room, his eyes landing on the two very red teenagers on the floor. “Mel, I thought there was a no boys rule?” he asked, fighting to keep his smile off his face.

She rolled her eyes, “Maybe you guys could help instead of just standing there?” The door opened a third time and she groaned, dropping her head again and closed her eyes to disappear momentarily, “Are we really having a family meeting right now?”

“Wow, I thought you’d be happy to see me.” Her eyes flew open, turning her head towards the door. She smiled weakly, offering an awkward, “Hey, Steve.” She hadn’t seen Steve in a month. He’d been off in Wakanda for a visit to his friend, and she cursed that this was the first position she saw her in.

Tony rolled his eyes, “Alright Peter, how do I get rid of this stuff?”

“You’re gonna have to cut it.”

Tony looked taken aback, “There’s nothing that can deactivate it?”

Peter shook his head, still up on his elbows to avoid crushing Melanie, “No. It normally dissolves after two hours.”

Tony took a step back, “Maybe I should just let it sit then.”

“Dad!”

“Mr. Stark!” His voice was tight as he tried to free himself, knowing that it was pretty impossible. He’d designed the webs to hold mutants, lift cars. Even with his super strength he couldn’t break them. He was trying to ignore how his legs pinned hers, and her hand pressed against his abdomen, just thankful that he could hold himself up on his arms.

“Well I found your next project.” He looked around his tool tables and sighed, “I can’t get to my tools here, so I’m gonna have to go upstairs—”

“You are _literally_ Ironman!” Melanie shouted, wishing the floor could swallow her whole, “Just use the gauntlet!”

Tony laughed, “Okay, okay. Not my fault you got yourself into this—”

“Don’t even!”

“Sticky situation,” he grinned proudly as the two teens on the floor grew even more red. Steve and Clint laughed behind him, and Tony smiled at the ceiling as he spoke, “FRIDAY, get me the gauntlet of Mark 14.”

_“Certainly boss.”_

They heard the whirring engine from upstairs, and Peter dropped his head against his hand. Melanie stared pointedly away from him and he mumbled, closing his eyes, “I’m sorry.”

She wanted to shrug, but her hand was pinned between his stomach and her hip and she didn’t feel like dragging it across his torso. She did try to ignore how she felt _literal_ abs, instead muttering to the ceiling, “Not your fault.”

“Wait, Stark, tell me you got a picture!”

“Really uncle Clint? Really?”

She watched him pull out his phone, and then he grinned at her, “Don’t worry, I’ll have FRIDAY send it to you.”

The gauntlet came through the door, almost hitting Clint, and it landed on Tony’s arm. He used the laser, “Don’t move.”

“If we could have, we would have!” She sang, turning away from the laser as it sliced across the webbing holding them to the floor. The second Peter could, he pushed himself up, his vision swimming with the sudden movement. He reached down, offering his hand to Melanie which she took, pulling herself up onto her feet. There was still web on Peter’s back, and some tangled in her hair, but she turned around pleasantly, “Hey, Steve.”

“Hey, Kid.”

She gestured to Peter awkwardly, “This is Peter. He’s working with my dad.”

Steve nodded, his buff arms crossed against his chest, “Hi Peter, nice to meet you.”

Peter looked about ready to jump out the nearest window had there not been web covering it, “You too.”

Melanie sighed, “Well, we’re going to go get cleaned up,” she gently pulled Peter along with her, walking up the steps and ignoring eye contact with the grinning adults. She turned, halfway out the door, “You guys staying for dinner? Dad ordered Chinese.”

Both nodded, and she quickly disappeared down the hallway, Peter Parker in tow, both still sticky from the web fluid. Steve turned to Tony, “You need any help cleaning this up?”

Tony brushed it off, “Nah. I’ll just let it disappear on its own.”

Melanie ushered Peter down the hall, the two of them quite a sight. She prayed that they wouldn’t run into any other Avengers. She was tough, but there was only so much embarrassment a girl could take.

She pointed out, “At least we know how full they can get.”

Peter would have laughed, but he was still dying from embarrassment. That was the first time the Avengers were meeting Peter Parker and it could not have gone worse. But, as luck would have it, it would. 

When Melanie reached for the handle on her door, he accidentally bumped into her, not expecting the abrupt stop. His chest collided with her back, making her stumble, but that wasn’t the worst part. The webs in her hair immediately stuck themselves to his chest, so when he tried to step away, already apologizing, she was ungracefully yanked backwards into his arms.

They stopped moving, both frozen as they realized their predicament, and she slowly nodded, “Okay, so nobody move. FRIDAY, are dad and the guys still in the lab?”

_“No, Tiny Stark. They are nearing your location.”_

“Shit, okay,” she got onto her own two feet, “In here.” They shuffled awkwardly into the room, just as they heard Tony’s laugh coming down the hall. When she closed the door, Peter was already apologizing all over again, but she cut him off, “You ever met Pepper Potts?”

He shook his head. He realized he couldn’t see her, so her cleared his throat, “Only once, really.”

“Well, she’s great. You’ll love her.”

“Wait—”

“FRIDAY, please ask Pepper to come to my room, quietly?”

It was only then that Peter realized, they were in fact, in Melanie’s room. The walls were a dark grey, covered in white picture frames. In most of the pictures, it was Melanie and her dad, or one of the Avengers, and there were a few of her with other kids. On the far wall, there was a large desk, covered in papers and sketchbooks.

A large bed was pressed into the corner, purple covers tucked up nicely, covered in decorative pillows. His attention was brought back to the door as it was pulled open slowly, _the_ Pepper Potts stepping through. Her eyes widened as she took in the appearance of the two teens and struggled to decide on a first question. She finally settled on, “Peter?”

He laughed, “Hi, Miss Potts.”

Melanie sighed, “Hey Pepper. So, we have a bit of an issue here.” She stepped sideways slightly, allowing her to see the mess of webs connecting the two together.

Pepper’s hand covered her lips, whether to hide her surprise or a laugh, Melanie wasn’t too sure, but she asked, “What happened?”

Melanie sighed, giving her the short version of the story, not failing to include how unhelpful her dad was, “Which is why I called you.” She smiled sheepishly, “Any ideas?”

Pepper nodded thoughtfully, “So this won’t dissolve for two hours?”

“Hour and a half about now.”

“Okay, Peter, take off your shirt, carefully, please, and I will grab you one of Tony’s, okay? That way you two aren’t stuck together anymore and can actually move.”

Melanie nodded, calling a quick thank you as she left the room. Melanie sighed, “How do you want to do this?”

Peter glanced around, his eyes settling on the bed, “Can you back up?”

She nodded, “As long as you don’t move faster than me.”

They shuffled backwards awkwardly, Melanie stumbling into Peter more times than she would care to admit. Eventually, Peter just held onto her arms, guiding her back gently. Peter reached the bed and asked, “So, I’m going to go up, this way it won’t be,” he paused.

“Awkward?” Melanie laughed. She sounded so easy going about it, as if she wasn’t stuck to a guy she barely knew and had recently been pinned under while her pretty-much-family watched.

He laughed, “Yeah, I guess we’re a little past that.”

“Okay,” she giggled, _why the fuck did I just giggle,_ she thought. “Think you can get up?”

He nodded, carefully sitting on the edge of the bed, and brought his knees up. He stood slowly, trying to stay hunched over Melanie’s slight frame, his eyes carefully watching her dark hair to make sure he didn’t tug it. He reached down to the hem of his shirt, “I’m sorry if I pull on your hair.”

She shrugged, “Wouldn’t be the worst thing that happened today.”

He laughed, trying to stay balanced while arching over her, his shirt having taken away his sense of sight. With an accidental jerk, she stumbled into the bed, almost knocking Peter over. He shook, his balance wavering, and gave up, deciding to just rip his shirt off so that he could fall without pulling on her hair anymore.

She struggled to not fall completely into Peter, but the tugging on her hair stopped, a shirt dropped onto her head, and there was a thud from behind her. She turned around, pulling the shirt off her head carefully, and made eye contact with Peter.

She knew he had muscles from their prolonged stay on the floor, but she didn’t realize _how_ much muscle he had. He had literal abs, and she refused to allow herself to count the very obvious eight pack. _Jesus Christ,_ she thought, trying to ignore his pectoral muscles as he pushed himself off of her bed.

Needing to fill the awkward silence, she tried for a joke, “You been working out with Spiderman too?”

He laughed, and thankfully the moment was cut by the door opening once again. Pepper walked in, smiling knowingly, “Just saying, Mel, this is the only time a guy is allowed shirtless in your room.”

Melanie laughed, watching Peter blush profusely as Pepper handed him the shirt. It was one of his old MIT shirts, and since Tony was so young when he went, it fit Peter perfectly. He thanked Pepper once again, who was now behind Melanie and trying to figure out her hair.

Peter offered politely, “Water tends to help dissolve it faster. I didn’t mention it to Mr. Stark—”

“Because he would have definitely just poured water on us,” Melanie nodded, and tossed her head towards the bathroom, “Well, if its all the same to you, I’m going to soak this for a while.”

Pepper nodded, “I think that’s a good idea. Peter, would you be okay to stay with her?”

“Pepper, I don’t need him to stay with me,” Melanie argued, wondering how much more embarrassing her day could get.

“There is no way you’re going to be able to comb that out by yourself.”

Peter shifted, crossing his arms, “Miss Potts,”

“Pepper,” she corrected.

“Pepper,” he started again, “I’m not,” she watched him grasping at the air, looking for the right words.

Melanie turned, “I’ll be fine, Pep. Promise. I’m just gonna get this out.”

Pepper sighed, “Alright, fine. Well, dinner is going to be here soon. Peter, you joining us?”

He nodded, “If that’s okay, miss.”

She rolled her eyes a little, “Pepper. Please. And of course it’s okay. We’re already feeding half of the Avengers.”

Melanie groaned, “Do you think Dad’s gonna tell them all?”

Pepper smiled, “Considering he texted me about it while I was grabbing the shirt, and Clint sent me a lovely photo, yes. If not he already did.”

Melanie and Peter groaned, and she gave him a small smile, “Not how you wanted your first day to go?”

“Definitely not.”

Pepper sighed, “Well, we’ve all had a bad first day before. It’ll blow over in a week. Come on, Peter. Let’s get the worst of it over with.”

They walked out of her room, Peter pausing at the door, “I’m sorry, about your hair, and the lab, Mel, and—”

“Not your fault. Besides, it’s a good story.” She turned heading into the adjoining bathroom before she stopped, “Peter!” He popped his head back into the room, his eyes wide.

“What’s wrong?”

“Could you do me a favour and not mention to Spiderman how we got the web fluid capacity up 30%? I’d just, he seems like a cool guy, and I would hate to meet him one day and his first impression of me being,” she tossed a hand in the air and Peter laughed,

“That.”

“Exactly.”

He grinned a little, “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

She pointed through the door, “I’m just gonna—”

“Yeah, I’ve got to,” they both stopped, nodded at each other, and both ducked through their respective doorways, laughing. Melanie sighed, feeling partially at fault for the explosion and Peter’s obvious embarrassment, but brushed it off as she went to turn on the faucet.

Melanie ran a bath, letting the tub fill up as she fought her way out of her still webbed clothes. Her shirt was staying on unless the web came off, so she decided to just sink into the water, shirt still on.

Instantly she could feel the webs weaken, and she grabbed her brush, carefully dragging it through her hair, wincing as it got caught every _freaking_ stroke. After a good twenty minutes, the web was gone, dissolved into the water, and she finally could pull her shirt off, hating how sticky the wet fabric had become.

She grabbed a towel, wrapping it around herself before trudging towards her closet. She grabbed a pair of matte black leggings, with three mesh lines on her calves and a large, white hoodie. She dried her hair, shaking it out until it wasn’t dripping wet, and made her way down the hall, following the raucous laughter and scent of Chinese food.

They were spread out around the living room, Steve, Sam, Rhodey and Clint all along the L couch, Pepper and her dad on the love seat, Natasha, Bruce and Peter sitting on the far couch. When she walked in, Clint looked up and grinned, “You ready to lose at Mario Kart?”

Thankful that the topic of conversation wasn’t about her and Peter, she laughed, “You tell me.”

Sam snorted, “Damn, Clint. She’s determined.”

Tony looked up at her and smiled, “Foods on the counter, grab what you’d like.”

“Thanks, dad,” she walked past him, heading into the kitchen, just listening to the Avengers talk. She rolled her eyes as the quips were sent around the room, grabbing herself a container of noodles and some sweet and sour chicken before heading back in.

As she walked in, she noticed, unfortunately and definitely planned, that the only open spot was next to Peter. She held in her sigh as she walked over, taking her seat next to him and offering a small smile. He moved over, offering her a little more room, and she took note of how his eyes never met hers. The poor kid must have gotten an earful.

And now, it was her turn.

Sam cleared his throat, “So,” the suggestiveness in his tone made her look up, only to find he was looking right at her, “How was working in the lab?”

Both her and Peter went rigid, freezing up for just a second before she shrugged off, “It was good. Worked on Spiderman’s suit, it was actually pretty cool.”

Clint eyed the two of them, giving her a wicked grin, “Yeah?” She nodded, wary, and his grin widened, “Did you get to play with his web shooter?”

Instantly the adults began wheezing. Even Tony, who temporarily choked on his wonton. Steve took a minute to catch on, but soon, everyone dissolved into laughter as the two teens went shock still, refusing to look at one another.

Peter knew, that one day he would be able to laugh about it. That this would be a hilarious story to tell, bringing back still slightly embarrassing memories; but that day was not today. He would need a lot of time in order to get to that day. So today, it was just miserable.

Melanie tried to ignore the insane blood rush in her cheeks, deciding to just slowly sit back, leaving her take out on the coffee table and pull her hood up, trying to disappear into the couch.

Bruce gave her an apologetic smile, a slight laugh still escaping him, and she made brief eye contact with Natasha, who was now just raising an amused eyebrow at her.

Melanie nodded, muttering to herself, “I should just go eat in my room.”

Peter heard her, obviously, she was sitting right beside him, so he whispered back, “Please don’t.”

She glanced at him, the two making eye contact for the first time, and she immediately dropped her guard. He looked desperate, his eyes silently pleading for a way out of the situation. She gave him a half smile, “You any good at Mario Kart?”

He leaned away, his eyebrows drawing together. What? What did that have to do anything? She waited for a response, and then he shrugged, “Yeah. I guess.”

“What do you say, you and me take on Clint? If we win, he drops this. _Everyone_ ,” she stressed, “drops this.”

He nodded, “I’m down.”

“Great.” She leaned forwards, pulling her hood off, “Uncle Clint,” he turned to her, still laughing as the effects of his jokes wore off, “We have a preposition.” He nodded, so she continued, “If we win at Mario Kart, _everyone_ ,” she looked to each Avenger in turn, “Drops this. No more uncomfortable jokes or asking about it.”

“And if I win?” he asked, looking mildly impressed by her offer.

“Then you can make as many jokes as you’d like.”

He glanced to the other Avengers, “Okay, two versus two. You and Pete, against me and your dad.” He turned to Tony, “What do you think?”

He agreed easily, “I’m in. Pete, you any good at Mario Kart?”

He shrugged, “I’m not horrible.”

Melanie laughed, “Nothing like confidence. FRIDAY, start up a team round of Mario Kart. Me and Peter versus Dad and Clint.”

“Oh, so we’re doing captains?”

Melanie grabbed the remotes, handing them out and raising an eyebrow, her voice coated in sarcasm, “Yeah, not like the game picks characters for us.”

The two teams moved to the L couch directly in front of the T.V., Melanie biting the bullet and sitting next to Clint, so Peter didn’t have to. The game started, red team versus blue team, Rosalina and Toad versus Baby Mario and Mario, Melanie and Peter versus Clint and Tony.

Clint waved a hand graciously, “Alright, everyone gets to pick one map, and whoever has the most points by the end of the four races, wins, capiche? Everyone clear on the rules?”

“Clint, its Mario Kart.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Three exasperated yeses filled the room and he grinned, “Okay, Peter, the guy I would never guess to be a top, but apparently he is, what map?”

Everyone’s jaws dropped and Melanie wheeled around, smacking Clint’s arm, “Clint!” The laughter that followed was worse than the first time, and even Melanie let out a snort, “Oh my god, Clint.”

Uncle Clint shrugged innocently, “I’ve got to get a few shots in, just in case you actually win.” She rolled her eyes, shoving him once again.

Peter, meanwhile, blushed a fiery red, but quickly chose a map, Rainbow Road. Melanie side eyed him, “How good are you that your first pick is the hardest map?”

He smiled, briefly making eye contact with her as the race counted down. The game started, Rhodey and Sam commenting like announcers, “Melanie is holding tight to spot number three, and oh no! Tony has knocked himself and her right off the track!”

Melanie laughed, glaring at her dad, but he simply shrugged, “I suck at Rainbow Road. Might as well take you down with me.”

Rhodey spoke fast, “There is tension as the top two racers battle it out. Peter and Clint are fighting for it, but it looks like Peter has the edge on this one!”

Natasha called, “Mel’s coming back!”

Rhodey announced with a laugh, “And Tony has fallen again!”

“You know what, Rhodes? You’re worse than me!”

Clint called, “Why did I choose you to be on my team?”

“Because I’m the next best at literally any other map but this one!”

Peter laughed as he crossed the finish line, Clint following only a second after. Melanie crossed it next, followed by Tony. Clint huffed, glaring at the screen. They were relatively close in points, but Peter and Melanie were ahead.

Clint chose next, taking Bowser’s Castle and defeating them all by a long shot, Melanie chose DS Yoshi Falls, taking first with Tony taking second, and Clint was fuming by the time they got to Tony’s pick. The last race.

None of the Avengers would dare say that they were invested, but they were all genuinely curious as to who would win. Tony debated, finally deciding on Mushroom Gorge. The race started as they usually did, Peter and Clint in the lead, fighting for first, Tony and Melanie close behind.

Tony pulled ahead, taking the lead, and the Avengers watching were all laughing as they placed bets on the race. Tony pulled ahead, him and Clint taking over during the last lap. Peter drove through a mystery block, getting a blue shell.

“Yes!” Melanie cried, watching as both Clint and Tony’s face drop.

“Nonononono, go, Tony go!”

Melanie laughed as she heard the soaring sound come to an end, an explosion following as her and Peter breezed past their dazed characters and over the finish line.

“Yes! Let’s go!” She cheered, tossing the remote in triumph as their scores totalled. She turned around, high fiving Peter and then spun to face Clint with a smile, “Anything to say to that, Uncle Clint?”

He pouted, arms crossed against his chest as he slumped against the couch, “That wasn’t fair.”

“How?” she asked, unable to hide her grin.

“Tony weighed me down!”

Tony turned, hand over his heart in false hurt, “Really? You chose me to be on your team, so that hurts, Clint. It does.” He turned to face Peter and Melanie, who were both grinning, “Good game you two. I’ll admit, the blue shell was a little harsh, but well played.”

He held out his hand, and both teens shook it, laughing the entire time. Sam called over, “Nice one Clint, now none of us can say anything.”

“That’s right!” she laughed, tossing her head back with a grin. She glanced over her shoulder at Peter, “Victory is sweet, isn’t it?”

He grinned a little, his brown eyes lighting up, “Yeah. It is.”

Tony sighed, “Well, that was eventful. FRI, what’s the time?”

“ _It is currently 8:30, Boss.”_

“Thank you.” He turned to Peter, “Your ho—” he paused, clarifying his statement, “Your totally average looking aunt is gonna want you home, right?”

Peter nodded, standing up from the couch and putting the controller on the coffee table. He said an awkward goodbye, waving, before disappearing down the hall towards the lab, presumably to grab his things. The lab was no longer covered in the webs, _thank god_ , but he found himself laughing as he picked up his web shooters.

It wasn’t how he envisioned his first day at Stark Industries going, and he could still feel the embarrassment creeping into his cheeks with a vengeance, but Melanie was right. It was a good story.

The door to the lab opened, and he spun around, eyes wide, before they settled on Melanie. She was grinning like a fool, hair tossed into a messy bun. She came down the stairs, “Good thing the web is gone.”

“Yeah,” he laughed, “Two hours, right?”

She nodded, playing with her hands in front of her, “I was just coming to say bye, and, uh, if you need any more help on the Spiderman project, or you know, something, I’d be down, if that’s okay with you, of course.”

Peter’s eyes widened as he caught onto the nervousness in her voice. She seemed so strong, never shy, quick with a comeback all evening, and here she was, rambling and fidgeting with her hands. She reached into her pocket, handing him her phone, “Just leave your number.”

The contacts page was already cued up, and he tried to hide his surprise as he typed in his contact information. Deciding to be brave, he put a spiderweb emoji beside his name.

When he handed it back, she laughed, “Very fitting.” She pocketed her phone, giving him a smile, “Goodnight, Peter, see you around.”

“See ya.”

She turned on her heel, heading out of the lab, a smile stuck on her face.

“What’s this?”

She jumped, whirling around to face the voice. “Jesus, dad,” she sighed, closing her eyes for a second, before frowning, “what’s what?” He was heading towards the lab, but stopped, crossing his arms, a smirk across his face.

“This,” he pointed to her, “This happy walk and smile you’ve got going on.”

She laughed, shaking her head, “Just relishing in my victory.”

“You are very cocky, you know that?”

She smiled, walking past him, calling backwards, “Where do you think I get it from?” Tony just snorted, watching her disappear down the hallway, an extra bounce to her step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG I'M SO EVIL  
> The second hand embarrassment that I got from this??? Yikes, but hey, it's a good story :)  
> Writing Mario-Kart was so much fun, I hope it was as fun to read!!  
> Please, please let me know what you think!!  
> Until next time,  
> ~DancingInTheDark


	3. Twenty Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers!!!  
> FIRST OF ALL  
> I am absolutely FLOORED by the number of kudos and hits that this story has gotten, so thank you all so so much. It honestly makes my day to see  
> SECONDLY  
> This chapter isn't my favourite, but I'm still happy with it. Sorry it took longer than I planned, life really got in the way this weekend.  
> One last thing- I was struggling with the formatting of the last chapter (notes were messing me up) but HOPEFULLY I fixed it!!!  
> Onto the chapter!!

To the credit of the Avengers, they all held up their end of the deal. For the next two days that passed, no one brought up the Web Shooter Incident. Melanie was sure that someone would, most likely Clint, but even he kept his mouth shut about the entire thing.

Melanie had been tempted to text Peter, but every message she wrote sounded too awkward to hit send. She finally made up her mind to wait until they’d at least hung out a second time before texting him. So, she spent the next two days doing online assignments, sketching away at her desk and tinkering in the lab with her dad trying to ignore how the boy with curly hair that he tried to keep slicked back was constantly in the back of her mind.

Thursday rolled around, and she was struggling with her last two chemical equations. There was a knock at her door and she leaned back, calling, “Come in.”

The door was propped open and Pepper poked her head in, “Hey, how’s it going in here?”

“I hate chemistry, but other than that, fine,” she shrugged, giving Pepper a false smile.

Pepper easily returned the favour. She tossed her head in the direction of the lab, “Why don’t you go ask your dad for some help? Normally I’d offer, but chemistry was not my friend in high school.”

Melanie huffed a laugh, “Yeah, I guess. Hold on,” she cast Pepper a grin, “I thought you were good at everything?”

Pepper smirked, “I am. Just so happens that your father is an actual genius.” Melanie grinned as she dragged her notebook off the desk, forcing herself from her comfy chair with a sigh. Pepper pulled the door open wider, calling over her shoulder, “There’s also an intern here, who I’ve heard is pretty good at chemistry.”

Melanie instantly looked up, moving a little faster to catch up to Pepper, “Wait, Peter’s here?”

Pepper hid her smile as best she could, “Wow, you perked up fast.” Melanie didn’t give her a response; instead she sent a swift glare in her direction, making Pepper laugh, “Okay, okay. Either way, yes, he’s here. Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

Melanie tried desperately to ignore the smile on her face as she and Pepper walked towards the lab. The doors slid open, at the same time a lab table was sent tumbling through the air until it crashed on the other side of the room. There was a time where Melanie would have screamed, jumped, or turned away to avoid the incoming explosion; but that time had passed long ago.

Pepper on the other hand, grabbed Melanie’s arm, stopping her from going further. She called, “What was that?”

They both spun around, identical looks on their faces that made Melanie laugh. Tony pointed to Peter, “He did it.”

Peter turned to Tony, the perfect mock expression of betrayal on his face before he turned back to Melanie and Pepper, “I-I was trying to fix the gauntlet.” He pulled his hand out from behind his back, revealing the Ironman gauntlet with a still-smoking repulsor.

Melanie walked down the steps, tossing her notebook onto a nearby table, “Is that Mark 12?”

Tony nodded, “Yeah, it’s not calibrated correctly, FRIDAY can’t even connect to it.”

Melanie reached forward, ready to grab Peter’s hand, but hesitated. She cleared her throat, “Mind if I?”

“Oh, no, here,” he disconnected it, handing her the gauntlet to take a look at. She opened up the side panel, glancing at the wiring inside. She looked up at her dad, “Your processing chip is blown. It must have overheated at some point.”

Both Peter and Tony stared at each other, expressions of shock on their faces as Melanie handed the gauntlet back. She shrugged, “You guys were probably looking too hard.”

Pepper was laughing, trying to cover it up as she watched the boys each take a turn staring into the gauntlet. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out, her smile instantly dropping from her face, “Tony.”

He looked up, instantly catching her resigned tone, “What’s wrong?”

She sighed, “The board is calling a meeting.”

Tony groaned, “What? We didn't schedule this, isn't there some rule where we have to schedule these things?"

"Apparently that only happens when you want a meeting," Pepper smiled.

He scoffed, "Their meetings _suck_. _Why_ do we need a meeting?”

She frowned, “They didn’t say. Just that you need to be there. And the rest of the Avengers.”

“You know this is just gonna be us all sitting around a table watching them talk, right? Send Capsicle, he’ll take care of it.”

She rolled her eyes, “They obviously need you there for a reason.”

He dragged his hand down his face, tossing the wrench onto the table, “Fine, you know, this whole being the leader thing? It sucks, by the way. Maybe I should forfeit it to Steve, he likes doing the whole pep talk thing.” He started towards the stairs before he froze, glancing at the two kids behind him, “Are you going to be okay in here? I’m not gonna come in, find the whole place covered in webs and you two—”

“We’ll be _fine_ dad.” _There went the two day streak_.

He held up his hands, “Alright, just checking.” Pepper grabbed his arm, pulling him the rest of the way through the doors, smiling at Melanie as the doors slid shut. Melanie rolled her eyes as she shook her head, “Well, that lasted long.”

Peter laughed as he picked up the screwdriver, opening up the panel to replace the processing chip, “I’m surprised it lasted two days.”

She shrugged, going over and grabbing her notebook, “Clint caught himself a couple times.” She opened it, flipping through the pages until she got to her last two equations. Deciding to bite the bullet, she asked, “Are you any good at chemistry?”

She looked over at him, trying to hold off her smile. He had the screw driver between his teeth as he pried the damaged processing chip out of the gauntlet. He nodded, his eyes still on the processing chip. He glanced up, catching her staring and sheepishly removed the screwdriver. He cleared his throat, “I’m not bad at it.”

She handed him her book, “That’s what you said about Mario-Kart, so I’ll take it as a yes. I’ve been stuck on these for a while. They won’t balance out.”

He scanned through the sheet, “Is this like, home school for you?”

She nodded, “Yeah, I do online courses. Couldn’t exactly register at a school with them,” she gestured out the doors, “as my emergency contact. Besides, it’s just easier this way.”

“You could always NDA it, only the office would know who they are.” He picked up a pencil off the bench, scrawling in the book, “Would you want to go to school?”

She shrugged, “I mean, it seems fun. Do I miss some parts of it, yeah, but I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve been in school.”

He handed her back the notebook, “You should apply at Midtown Tech. It’s one of the best schools for engineering and all, if you’re interested in that.”

She looked over his equation, “Dammit, I missed an Argon, didn’t I?”

He smiled a little too confidently as he screwed the panel back into place, “You were probably just looking too hard.”

Her jaw dropped and she shook her head with a laugh, “Nice, Parker.”

He grinned at her before he held up the gauntlet, “Hey FRI, can you connect now?”

_“Yes, Peter. Recalibrating will take me a moment.”_

Melanie watched him put it back on his wrist, the gauntlet forming perfectly to his hand. FRIDAY spoke again, _“Ready to test.”_

He glanced back at Melanie, “I hope you were right.”

“Well I can’t be wrong twice in one day,” she said obviously. He laughed as he fired a shot at one of the targets set up across the lab, nailing it just slightly off center. Melanie froze, “How on earth did you do that?”

He glanced back, his eyes wide, “Do what?”

“Get it nearly perfectly on target without a sight. No one has that good of aim, except _maybe_ Clint.”

“Oh,” he thought fast, “Well, when I’m working on Spiderman’s webshooters, I have to make sure they fire accurately. I guess I’ve just got a lot of practice with the whole,” he gestured to the targets, “aiming thing.”

She looked genuinely impressed, “Well, next time we have to challenge Clint to something, we should definitely make it target practice.”

“You any good with them?” he gestured to the glove still enclosed on his wrist.

She held her hand out, “I might not have the perfect aim, but I can still beat anyone free hand. Except maybe my dad.” He handed her the red and gold glove which she easily slid on, letting it fit to her hand. She stood, arm outstretched, palm flat to the target and closed one eye. The repulsor winded up, sending a blast across the lab, taking out the target perfectly.

She grinned, “And that’s how it’s done.”

Peter laughed as she pulled off the gauntlet, placing it back on the lab bench. She glanced up at the clock, “We’ve got a bit of time before my dad gets back and I doubt he wants us tinkering too much without him, so what do you want to do?”

He shrugged, “It doesn’t matter to me. Do you know what the meeting’s about?”

She shrugged, jumping up onto the counter and swinging her legs, “No idea, normally they’re scheduled, so the fact that it was called randomly means there’s probably some imminent threat to New York.”

He laughed, “It’s always New York, isn’t it?”

She grinned, “Always. You know, sometimes they’re quick meetings, maybe an hour, but other times, dad’s stuck in there all day long. I feel like this might be one of those times.”

“So what are we gonna do?”

She pulled up a hologram, “Wanna,” she spun around the Ironman suit, “play twenty questions? I feel like after _that_ ,” she gestured to the area in the lab they’d had the entire web shooter incident, “I should know a little bit more about the guy I was stuck to.”

He laughed for a second, “Yeah, I guess that’s fair.” He crossed his arms, lifting his left shoulder, “Do, do you want to go first?”

She nodded, “Okay, let me think.” She drummed her fingers along the desk, “Okay, favourite movie, go.”

“Can it be a series or do I have to pick a _specific_ one?”

“Pick a series and then pick your favourite of _that_ ,” she smiled.

“Okay, _Star Wars_ , obviously, and favourite of that, _Empire Strikes Back_.”

She rolled her eyes, “I get why you and my dad get along so well. Why _Empire Strikes Back_?”

“What, are you not a fan of _Star Wars_? Also the Battle of Hoth— best opening sequence.”

She smiled, “It’s not that I’m not a fan, it’s just that I’ve watched them _way_ too many times. Not that I’m against re-watching a series, trust me, I drive my dad insane every time I watch _Harry Potter_.”

“I’ve never seen Harry Potter.”

Her jaw dropped. She stared at him a moment, her eyes wide, “What?”

He laughed, leaning against a separate lab table, facing her, “I’ve been meaning to watch them, I just haven’t gotten the chance to.”

She glanced up at the clock, “I mean, depending on how long this meeting is we might just run out of questions and have time to watch one.”

He smiled, a slight quirk of his lips that made her stomach flip. She jutted her chin towards him, “Your turn. Ask away.”

“Let’s see, favourite book?”

“Oh jeeze,” she leaned back, staring up at the ceiling, “I don’t know if I can pick one. Hey FRI, what’s my most read book?”

_“The most read book on your shelf is_ The Book Thief _, Tiny Stark.”_

Peter snorted at the nickname, making Melanie shake her head, “Who keeps changing my name on your interface?”

“ _The Boss.”_

“Of course he does.” She rolled her eyes, “Either way, _The Book Thief_ is definitely one of my favourites. How about you?”

He shrugged, “I don’t read a lot if I’m being honest.”

“You’re missing out Parker, but fair enough. I won’t hold it against you. My turn, right?” He nodded, grabbing the table behind him, and pulled himself up with ease. She started thinking out loud, “Okay, moving away from the basic questions, let’s see… oh! What’s something that you could give a forty minute presentation on with zero preparation time?”

He laughed, “What? Wow, that’s specific. Um, I don’t know, _Star Wars_ , probably. But I suck at presentations so,” he glanced up at her, “it wouldn’t go well.”

“What’s wrong with presentations?”

He shrugged, “I stutter a lot, it just freaks me out when I have to talk in front of people.”

She frowned, “You seem pretty good at it.”

He laughed, “You’re one person. And after that,” he gestured to where the incident happened two days prior, “ _talking_ to you is easy.”

“I know what you mean,” she giggled, “this seems almost backwards, right?”

“A little. It’s my turn, right?” He sighed, “Huh, what is a random skill that you have?”

She grinned, biting her lip, “How random are we talking?”

“Anything.”

She pushed herself off the table and cracked her back, “Keep in mind, I have Black Widow as an aunt.” She checked around her, making sure she had enough space and quickly dropped into a bridge. She spoke form the floor, “This isn’t it, but I need to stretch.”

“Are you gonna do a back-handspring?”

She kicked over, standing up at looked at him, her eyebrow raised, “Yeah. How’d you know?”

He grinned, jumping off the lab bench, “Because I can do it too.”

“No way.”

“Yes, I swear.”

“Do it,” she smiled, gesturing beside her. “Same time.”

“Alright,” he stood, keeping a few feet of space between the two of them, “Ready?”

She nodded, “Count of three?” he agreed, and they counted down, both swinging their arms back. They moved in perfect time, landing at the same moment. Melanie started laughing and knocked his shoulder, “How the hell did you learn to do that?”

He shrugged his left shoulder, “I just, figured it out, I guess.”

“Because everyone just casually can do back handsprings and is jacked—” she cut herself off, but he was already looking at her, eyebrows high. She decided to go with it, “Don’t look so shocked. I saw you shirtless the other day.” _And I was literally pinned beneath you, but that’s besides the point._

He forced out a laugh, shaking his head as his cheeks grew red, “Your turn.”

She nodded, “Okay, how about, what’s your best friend like?”

“Ned?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He started scrolling, coming to lean on the lab bench beside her as he pulled up a photo, “That’s Ned. He’s honestly the best, sometimes he lacks a filter but he’s awesome. We have a secret handshake and—”

He cut himself off, turning red again but Melanie pretended not to notice. She smiled at the photo, both Peter and Ned were in it, smiling way too genuinely for her heart to handle as they showed off their Lego Millennium Falcon. He started swiping, letting her see the other pictures and Melanie knocked his shoulder with hers, “Having a secret handshake is cool, by the way. I have one with Nat, Clint, and Rhodey.”

He turned to look at her, smiling softly, his face inches from hers. She hadn’t realized they were that close. Both of them quickly turned back to his phone, their faces feeling like they were on fire. He brought his phone down, “Want to watch Harry Potter?”

Her eyebrows drew together as she leaned away, “Is that your question?”

“Well you mentioned it earlier, and if you don’t want, that-that’s fine, I just thought—”

“Peter,” she waited for him to look at her before she continued, “Yes. I would love to watch Harry Potter. FYI I’m _always_ down to watch Harry Potter.”

So they made their way out of the lab, the two of them heading up to the Stark private level. Melanie asked FRIDAY to cue up the movie, before she turned to Peter, “Chips, popcorn, or candy?”

“Uh, chips?”

“Good choice.” She ran to the kitchen, pouring herself and Peter a bowl of regular chips to share. She came back, placing the bowl between the two of them as she sat down, “Ready to have your life changed?”

He laughed, “Apparently.”

She grinned, “Hey FRI, start it up.”

...

Quentin watched the simulation laughing, "Oh this is something not even Stark could come up with."

Dr. Connors smiled, "Yes, it is quite impressive. I just don't quite see the use of it yet."

"Well that's because we need some new recruits. Which reminds me," he pointed to the doctor sitting at his rickety lab table, "You still have some connections at Oscorp, right?"

Dr. Connors narrowed his eyes, "Some thin connections, yes. Why?"

"Well, I hear that poor old Mr. Osbourne isn't doing so well. And if I remember correctly, the _other guy_ told me about some experiments that went down, a kind that could save Mr. Osbourne."

"You're mad," he stood up, firmly shaking his head. "Those would kill him."

**They** **would save him**

"On the contrary, Connors. It's like the other guy always says, evolution. And once we get him, we can get all the drone tech we want, and once we have that, then we have only one final pit-stop before we begin."

"Begin what?"

**The end**

"The new era. One without Spiderman. And let's get rid of Ironman too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we get some cute moments with Mel and Peter YAY <3<3<3  
> Hmmmm... what is the meeting about... thoughts??  
> We got more of a team up going down.... how do we feel about it? Like it? Hate it? Overdone? Too different?  
> Either way, thank you so much for reading and being supportive this far! I'm super excited to see where this story goes, because I am literally writing it as we speak sooo yeah  
> Thanks for reading and hope y'all liked it!!!  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	4. Training Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers!!!  
> I am constantly in SHOCK by the numbers on this story, like, what???  
> I hope you know that your comments literally make my day and just watching the number of hits is CRAZY  
> This chapter was a lot of fun to write (it's been a lot of coffee and late nights)  
> We love the banter though!! It is a bit later than I planned (only by a few hours, I think its FINE)  
> So I hope you all like it!!

Melanie rounded the corner, pressing the gun against his back, “Put the gun down, and your hands up, slowly.”

Peter turned, staring at her out the corner of his eye, “You don’t want to do that.”

She cocked her head to the side, “I think I do. So put the gun down, and you’re gonna come with me.”

He slowly lifted his arms, the gun still held in his hand, “I don’t want to fight you.”

She adjusted the grip she had on her gun, pressing it further into his back, “Then don’t. _Drop_ , the, gun.”

….

**Two Hours Earlier**

Melanie was right, the meeting went on, lasting a good five hours. When Tony finally came in, they were part way through _The Chamber of Secrets_. They’d blown through the bowl of chips by the time Harry was at Ollivander’s. Melanie had placed it on the coffee table, leaving just the two of them sitting together on the couch.

Melanie didn’t hear the doors slide open, but Peter did. He heard Tony’s footsteps and forced himself to not flinch; if Melanie didn’t hear it, that meant he shouldn’t either. He was also hyper-aware of how close he and Melanie were sitting… but that didn’t necessarily mean anything, did it? He was probably reading too much into it.

Voices filtered into the room, causing Melanie to tear her eyes away from the screen. The Avengers were strolling in, Steve and her dad at the front of the group with Natasha and Clint taking up the rear. 

She called over the back of the couch, “How was the meeting?”

Tony scoffed, “Are you watching _Harry Potter_ again?”

She nodded, pausing the movie to turn towards him, “Peter’s never seen it.”

Tony looked to the teen in question, getting a small nod as confirmation, “My apologies then. Go ahead and watch the same movie for the fiftieth time.”

She tilted her head to the side as she asked, “And how many times have you seen _Star Wars_?”

He pointed at her, sitting down on the loveseat, “Touché. So what part are we at?” The Avengers all took up their places, sitting down around the living room, eyes drawn towards the television.

“Harry and Ron just found out it was a basilisk. How’d the meeting go?”

Tony shrugged a shoulder, his hand gripping his forearm, “Same old. There’s some fear on the Board that there’s going to be,” he paused, finally taking his eyes off the screen, “a breakout attempt, at the Raft.”

“The Raft? That thing was literally built to be unbreachable. Where’d they get the tip off from?”

His eyes flicked over to Peter as he spoke, “Just some unrest among the prisoners. They’re just paranoid.” His eyes read differently though, there was definitely something going on.

Melanie obviously noticed his glance, and she briefly looked to Peter, but he looked just as confused as she did. She looked to each of the Avengers in turn, none of them looking quite as concerned as her dad. Pepper broke the silence, “Are you gonna keep watching?”

Melanie turned the TV back on, but she sneaked a sidelong glance at Peter. When he met her gaze, he looked just as confused as she did.

…

The second movie finished, and Natasha straightened in her seat, “As relaxing as this has been, it’s training time.”

The Avengers groaned ceremoniously, making Melanie laugh. Natasha looked to her, “You joining today, Mel?”

She nodded, “Yep. Who knows, I might just beat you for the first time.”

“Second,” Natasha corrected.

Peter looked up at Melanie in shock, “Wait, you beat her once?”

Melanie waved it off, “Yeah, it’s less impressive than it sounds. She likes to count it, but I literally only beat her since she couldn’t use one arm.”

Natasha smiled, getting up from the couch and gesturing out the doors, “Hey, you still won. Let’s go people. We’re getting lazy here. Peter,” she pointed at him, “Are you and Tony hanging out in the lab?”

Clint scoffed, “What, so Tony gets a day off and I don’t?”

“Yes, I do, because A, my suit does everything for me, and B, this is boring combat training for you non-armoured heroes. Also, Pete, I need to run something by you in the lab really quick,” he gestured out the door as he stood, and Peter instantly moved to follow him.

Clint sulkily got up, grumbling, but he smiled, bumping Natasha’s shoulder as he passed her.

Bruce laughed at him as he passed by, “Lucky for me, I don’t need to train either. I’ll be in my lab if anyone needs me.”

Natasha called, “Tony, when you’re done, we need a sparring partner for Steve!”

A loud curse was heard followed by Clint’s raucous laughter. Melanie grinned as Sam, Clint, Steve, Natasha, Rhodey and herself all made their way down to the gyms, splitting into their changerooms.

Melanie genuinely loved it, it was hard and it repeatedly hurt like hell, but working out with the Avengers was fun. She quickly changed into her gym clothes, a tank top and pair of leggings, heading out into the massive workout room. Her dad definitely didn’t do anything on a small scale, so when he decided to build a gym, he built the _entire floor_ into a gym.

Natasha came out next, smiling at Melanie as she finished up her French braid, “Ready to put these boys to shame?”

Melanie grinned, “We need to get Pepper in on these lessons, really balance us out.”

Natasha laughed, “You and I can take ‘em.”

Melanie smiled as they made their way over to the punching bags, both wrapping their hands and wrists. Since Melanie was 14, Natasha had been her gym buddy, basically her trainer, making her farther along than your typical 16 going on 17 year old when it came to fighting technique.

The boys came out next, all of them walking out together and making their way over to Natasha and Melanie. Everyone started stretching, getting ready to work out, jokes flying back and forth across the room. Along the left side of the room were lockers, massive rolling closets that held every weapon that belonged to the assigned Avenger.

Unsurprisingly, Natasha’s locker was the biggest.

Training always happened the same way; individual training first, next, sparring, and finish up with group combat. Clint went to his designated target practice, Rhodey and Sam decided to work on their firing technique in case either of them lost their suits, and Melanie and Nat worked on hand to hand.

Natasha ducked her punch and landed a blow to her stomach; Melanie barely flinched. At this point, she was used to losing when it came to her aunt. She stepped back, her hands up and ready, and Natasha coached her, “You’re going for the obvious hit. Go for a different angle.”

Melanie nodded, taking a look at how they were set up. Nat’s arms were up, but she was leaving her stomach open, _the obvious hit_. Instead, Melanie stepped forwards, dodging the punch she was thrown and hooked her leg around her aunt’s as she knocked her back, sending her to the floor. Of course, because nothing ever felled Nat, she just grabbed Melanie, the two of them hitting the ground together and rolling apart.

Nat smiled, “Nice, Mel. You know, maybe we should get Peter in here for sparring so you can fight someone other than me.” She stood up, offering her hand to Melanie.

Melanie took it with a laugh, “I couldn’t tell you if I’d win that either.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow, “What? You’re saying that you would lose?”

“No, not that. I’m not _allowed_ to say that,” she pointed at her aunt as she spoke, making her nod in approval. “I’m saying that Peter is actually _way_ stronger than he looks.”

“And you know this because,” she raised an eyebrow as she started unwrapping her hands.

She glanced around; Rhodey and Sam were laughing, trying to beat one another, Clint was whooping about his new high score, and Steve was about to break another punching bag. She sighed, “Long as you promise not to mention this to dad.”

Natasha smiled, glancing around the room, “You’re looking at the best secret keeper in this tower. How do you know?”

“Well,” they dropped their wraps on the bench, “after the whole web, _thing_ , we got stuck a second time. And long story short, to get _unstuck_ he had to take his shirt off.”

Nat leaned away, confusion clearly written on her face, “How jacked is this kid?”

Melanie took a look around the room, “You know Steve?” Natasha nodded, her eyes widening as Melanie continued, “Yeah, _that_ on a seventeen-year-old’s body. Trust me, I wouldn’t believe me either, but I’m serious.”

“You’re talking pre-serum-Steve, right?”

“No, I’m talking post-serum-plus-a-couple-work-outs-Steve.”

“Parker?” She asked in disbelief.

Melanie nodded, tilting her water bottle to her lips, “I know.”

“Never would have guessed that.”

Melanie agreed just as Steve made his way over, towel in hand, “What are you kids talking about?”

Natasha raised an eyebrow, “Kids? Really? I’m literally older than you if you don’t count your ice-time.”

“But if you do, I’ve got 99 years on you.”

“Oh _whatever.”_ She stood up, “Ready for sparring?”

Melanie grinned as Nat steered the conversation away from what they’d been previously talking about; she really was the best. They called Rhodey, Sam and Clint over to the mats, and Natasha looked at Melanie, “Want to go grab your dad?”

She nodded, “Yep, be right back.” She started out the doors, laughing when she heard the Avengers start placing bets on the fights as she pushed the door open. She made her way to the labs, walking through the sliding doors and froze.

Both boys were leaning against lab benches, gazes on the ground, worried looks on both their faces. “Everything okay?” she asked.

Both of them jumped, Tony flashing his easiest smile, “Yeah, just business talk. Need me to come beat up Steve?”

She nodded, “Yeah, something like that.” She looked over to Peter, noticing the worry hiding behind his eyes. Business talk had definitely been more than ‘business talk’.

Tony followed her gaze, “Pete, you wanna come?”

Peter snapped out of his trance, his eyes bugging out of his head, “Me?”

“Yeah,” he clasped his forearm. “Why not? You’ve trained a bit with Spiderman, this is next level. Come on,” he tossed his head towards the doors, leaving no room for discussion as they slid open and he disappeared down the hall. 

Melanie waited for him, and once they started down the hallway, she asked, “Is everything okay?”

He nodded, “Yeah, just, just some Spiderman stuff.”

She nodded slowly, “Oh, is everything okay with him?”

“Yeah, yeah, he, he’s fine.” He pointed towards the doors to the gym, “What am I walking into?”

Melanie grinned, “Sparring right now. But after that, it’s team training.”

“Wait, I’m not _fighting_ anyone, am I?”

Melanie laughed, “Nah, we have to watch, I mean, we are at a _slight_ disadvantage. But we do get to join team training.” They walked through the doors as Natasha and Sam walked onto the mat. Melanie grinned, leaning over to Peter, “Nat’s gonna take this one, _easy_.”

She was right, they barely went at it for ten seconds before Natasha had him pinned on the ground. Clint was clapping, “Let’s go Tasha!”

Peter watched the fights, amazed. These were _heroes_ , literal heroes, and he got to watch them train. Better yet, he got to watch them joking, watching movies; he knew them _by name_. The next fight was Steve and Tony in an Ironman suit. Melanie leaned in again, her breath hot against his skin, “Since Steve is enhanced, it’s only fair to give him a challenge, and my dad’s suit is the closest thing we have to another enhanced on the team.”

Peter was tempted to say, ‘ _I could probably take him_ ’, but he decided against it quickly. It got him thinking though, could he _actually_ take Captain America in a fight? Would he beat him in an arm wrestle? He was drawn from his thoughts as the fight in front of him turned brutal. He leaned to ask Melanie, keeping his eyes on the fight, “Do they normally get this,” he couldn’t find the right word.

Melanie smiled, turning to face him, their faces inches apart, “Aggressive?”

He tore his eyes from the fight, becoming instantly flustered at how close their faces were. She was so close, he saw the freckles that dotted across her nose, the small scar on her cheek, everything he hadn’t noticed before. He quickly turned away, his face aflame, back towards the fight where Tony landed a hard right hook, “Yeah.”

“No, that’s mostly just Steve and my dad. Since they spar every time, they decided to one day just go for it. I think it’s therapeutic.”

He watched as Tony knocked Steve down, landing a hammer fist directly on his chest, laying him flat against the mat. He winced, making Melanie bite her lip to hide her smile. Steve got up almost instantly, but Natasha called, “Time!”

The mask peeled away from Tony’s face, and he grinned tiredly, “Good work Star-Spangled-Idiot.” Steve laughed, the two of them walking off the mat. Tony called to Peter, “You taking notes? Hit ‘em in the chest.” Peter smiled ruefully, nodding his understanding.

The next fight was Rhodey and Clint. They were pretty well matched in hand to hand, both were military trained, so the fight went as long as it could until Sam called it off. The group made their way from the mats, taking swigs from their water bottles, shoving one another and making jokes, most geared towards Sam’s loss. 

Clint grinned, “It’s my turn for team training tonight, right?”

Rhodey groaned, “Oh here we go. Don’t make us all use bows.”

Clint scoffed, “You wouldn’t stand a chance, Rhodes. But, Nat and I came up with a pretty good idea for team training. You know how when we bust a Hydra base, they want us to take prisoners? Yeah, that’s the whole point of this, so we’re gonna split into two teams, one infiltrating, and one trying to stop the infiltration, and the whole point is to avoid killing them. You have to get them back to your base,” He pointed to the paintball course. _Yes, there was an entire paintball course, that’s how_ big _the gym was. “_ This is all about strategy, capiche?”

Rhodey looked genuinely impressed, “Okay,” he clapped his hands together, “so what are teams?”

“Well, to divvy it up fairly, me, you, Tony and Pete, against Nat, Mel, Steve and Sam. Does that seem fair to everyone?”

Melanie had to admit, Clint put more thought into this than she imagined he would; he split up the military trained, the master-assassins, the two ‘enhanced’ and her and Peter, making the teams as fair as possible.

Both teams split up, putting on their protective vests. Steve spoke first, “Alright, no mistakes, we’re trying to get through this base, clear to the other side. They’re gonna fight, but don’t give up, and only fire a weapon as a last resort. Our best bet is to surprise them, we move silently, and we move together, got it?”

Melanie grinned, “Nice speech Cap.”

He laughed, handing her the small gun, “Your job is to take down Peter.”

“Why me?”

Natasha smiled, “He might like you too much to actually hurt you.”

Sam laughed as Melanie hit her arm, “Shut up. Who are _you_ going after?”

“Clint,” she said obviously with an expression that read, _duh_.

Melanie sighed, “Yeah, I should have figured that. Alright, are we good to go in?”

The group nodded, checking their guns one last time before they started their way in. They split into two, Nat and Mel, and Sam and Steve, disappearing through the maze of walls and tunnels. Both kept their guns up, checking every corner before moving in. She heard gunshots and shouts erupt from ahead, she looked back at Natasha, "I thought we weren't supposed to use our guns?"

Natasha, "We can use them, we're just not supposed to use them on anyone, the other guys can shoot us up as much as they want though."

Melanie nodded, "Yeah, I guess that's fair." A paintball smacked into the wall beside her head, exploding in yellow paint, so close that some of it landed across her face. She dove to the side, ducking against the opposite wall as Nat, "Where the hell did that come from?"

"The shot was too close to your face to be lucky. It had to be Clint, Rhodey wouldn't try it."

She cocked her gun, "He's definitely got height on us. Go that way, try and find Peter, I'm gonna run here. A shot to the leg doesn't count as killing someone, right?"

Melanie grinned, "Go for it. Get him back for that," she pointed to the splatter on the wall. Natasha ducked down the hallway, leaving Melanie on her own. Seconds later she heard gunshots, making her roll her eyes as Clint cursed. She checked the next corner, catching Peter standing, back to her. She took a deep breath and rounded the corner, pressing the gun against his back, “Put the gun down, and your hands up, slowly.”

Peter turned, staring at her out the corner of his eye, “You don’t want to do that.”

She cocked her head to the side, “I think I do. So put the gun down, and you’re gonna come with me.”

He slowly lifted his arms, the gun still held in his hand, “I don’t want to fight you.”

She adjusted the grip she had on her gun, pressing it further into his back, “Then don’t. _Drop_ , the, gun.”

He grinned, "An actual bad guy would fight back, right?"

She nodded, "Yeah, for the most part. Not with a gun on their back though."

"But you don't really want to kill me," he turned, lightning fast and knocked her gun clean from her hands. She stared at him, "How the hell-" he leveled his gun towards her and she spoke slowly, "Alright, fine. That was impressive, I'll give you that, but you don't want to kill me either."

He smiled, "Not really."

"Good." She swallowed harshly, staring at the barrel of the gun leveled at her chest. He didn't look very comfortable holding it, if anything he looked incredibly stiff as if he'd never held a gun before. She kept her hands up and slowly stepped backwards, giving herself a little more room. She jumped to the left, grabbing her gun and shoving it upwards.

He'd already been watching his powers, he didn't want to cheat, so Melanie managed to knock it clean from his hands, shock written all over his face. Their guns were on the ground but Melanie knew she wouldn't win that race. Hers was ten times further. So instead, she put her hands up and dove, knocking him back. They hit the ground and he asked, "Are you serious?"

She pinned his arms, trying to keep her focus off of how she was literally _straddling_ him. Briefly she thought, _we've been in worse positions._ "Yep." She sighed, "I don't want to punch you in the face though, and that's normally my next move, so how do we want to play this?"

He shrugged his shoulder, and decided that a little bit of super-strength couldn't _hurt_ , right? He pushed her off, laughing at the expression of shock on her face, and got to his knees. He grabbed the gun closer to him, and as he turned to point it at her again, she had the other gun and was swinging it, the two of them coming to a draw, a gun pointed at each of their faces. "Okay, I know why _I'm_ good at this," she breathed heavily, "but how are you?"

"Spiderman is a pretty good trainer."

"So now what?" she asked, the two of them at another standstill.

"I think I'm supposed to shoot you," he smiled a little, "right?"

"From this close? That's harsh Parker."

He frowned, "Why do you call me that?"

She shrugged, "Probably because my dad loves to use last names, hold on, is this really the time?"

He laughed, "Want to finish twenty questions, since we're here?"

She rolled her eyes, "You know, you get a little cocky sometimes." Her arms were aching from being held up so long, going numb from the lack of blood flow so she knew she had to do something. Deciding to be brave, she drew her knees up and slammed her feet into his chest. _He had a protective vest on, he was gonna be fine._ He fell back, his gun falling to one hand as he tried to catch himself. She jumped up, and pointed her gun down at him, quickly kicking his gun from his now loose hold. She grinned, "It was my question, right?"

He laughed, officially putting his hands up, "Yeah."

"How are you liking the internship so far?"

"Definitely not what I expected," he said honestly.

There was a shout from behind and then the familiar pain of a paintball smacking into her back. She fell into the wall, groaning, and Peter looked up, his eyes wide. Tony stood at the end of the hall and shouted, "You gotta watch your six Mel."

She held up a thumbs up, making him laugh and she shook her head, "That was just mean."

Tony walked over, laughing as she pushed off the wall with a wince. He looked down at the floor, "Pete, you good?"

Peter nodded, his worried gaze locked on Melanie. He'd honestly forgotten there were other people in the game. He forced himself to his feet, going and grabbing his gun off the cold floor, "Yeah, I'm good."

Tony nodded, "Alright, Rhodes and Clint got caught, figures. But I think Sam got shot. So we gotta watch out for Steve and Nat."

Peter nodded as Tony disappeared down the hallway and he turned back to Melanie instantly, "Are you okay?"

She smiled, wincing, "Is that your question?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!!  
> It's still crazy to me that people are actually reading my work, like that's straight up mind-blowing  
> Anyways LOL hope y'all liked it, stay tuned for the next chapter that will HOPEFULLY be out i the next 5 days or so  
> I make no promises....  
> Thank youu guys so much, like, writing this and seeing that people like it actually makes my day every time. This story is doing better than I could have ever hoped and that is because of y'all. You're the reason I'm writing this!!  
> Thanks,  
> Until next time,  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	5. In The Spirit Of Chick-Flicks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG  
> Hello readers!!!  
> I hope y'all know that this chapter was going to be the DEATH of me. Microsoft Word decided to delete it, and I had to rewrite it all again starting yesterday so it was a whole ordeal, but hey, STILL ALIVE *cue grandmother from The Croods*  
> But other than that, I love this one <3<3  
> ALSO, CAN I JUST FREAK FOR A SECOND??? We're almost at 1000 hits, that is actually MIND BLOWING  
> Just thank you all so so so so so much, like, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU

Knuckles rapped against her door, causing her to tear her eyes away from the notes in front of her and up into the mirror where she could see the door. She didn’t even get a chance to call, _come in,_ before her dad shoved the door open.

He pointed at her, “I need you to call Peter, and get him to the tower, now.”

He disappeared, dashing down the hallway, leaving Melanie with nothing to do but follow. She spun around in her chair, taking off after him at a light jog. “Dad!” He went into the lab, and she dashed down the stairs behind him, “Dad! What’s wrong?”

He looked up, “Did you call Peter?”

“No, not yet, what’s going on?”

He sighed, leaning against a lab table, “Remember that Raft breakout rumour?”

She froze, her eyes widening as she spoke, “Did it happen?”

He nodded, “They don’t know how. They want me to come in and look at the tech. Thunderbolt said he needed my _expertise_.” He frowned, his voice turned mocking, “Wow, he half-complimented me.”

Melanie snorted, shaking her head, “Funny how that’s how we know it’s serious.”

“He wanted Nat to come too,” he paused, gawking, “Oh my god, he complimented both of us.”

The doors slid open in perfect time, Natasha walking in with a smile, “It was weird to hear, wasn’t it?”

Melanie grinned at her, “He wants you to talk to the prisoners and find out the how?”

Natasha smiled easily, “Something like that.” She nodded towards Tony, “You ready to go?”

He grabbed his watch from the lab bench, the kind that took out audio systems, and nodded, “Just about.” He turned to Melanie, “You’re gonna call Peter?”

“Yeah,” she answered instantly before she frowned. “Wait, what does he have to do with this?”

He sighed, “The guy that got out was there because of Spiderman. I need you to warn the kid and get him to warn Spiderman. I want them both off the streets, just in case.”

“And he needs to come to the tower?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then,” she pulled out her phone, turning it on and hovering her finger over the call button.

Tony walked up next to her, “Let me know when he gets here, and I will call as soon as I know what’s going on, okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll text you.”

“We’ll be back, okay? Two days tops.”

She nodded, “Okay, be safe.”

He pulled her in for a hug, whispering, “Love you, kiddo.”

“Love you too.” They pulled apart, and she waved them off as the doors to the lab slid closed, and she finally pressed the call button. It rang twice, and then Peter’s voice answered, “ _Hello_?”

“Hey, Peter. Um, is there any way you could come over—”

“ _Who is this_?”

She spoke to herself, “Right, I have your contact info, but you don’t have mine.” She cleared her throat, “It’s Melanie.”

“ _Oh, hey Mel, what’s up?”_

“Hey, my dad needs you to come by the tower.”

“ _Right now_?” He asked, already moving.

“Yeah, apparently. Is that okay?”

“ _Yeah, just give me a second_ ,” his voice tapered off, but a conversation on the other side of the phone started up, clear enough for her to make out,

“ _What? Now? It’s a school night!”_

_“I know, but Mr. Stark needs me,”_

_“And I need you here! Pete, give me the phone. Peter,_ Peter Parker _! What?_ No _? Give me the—"_

There was a scuffle, Peter’s voice giving small protests until the phone was ripped from his hands and a woman’s voice started talking, “ _Tony, you can’t just call up my nephew every time you have some breakthrough! Do you understand that he is a teenager? That he’s my kid? I’m tired of this constant in and out, I barely see him already because of my work and now you keep stealing him—”_ she faded, and there was more muffled conversation that Melanie couldn’t make out. The woman’s voice spoke after a minute of silence, much more withdrawn, “ _Who is this?”_

Melanie cleared her throat awkwardly, “Um, this is Melanie, and intern at Stark Industries.”

The phone got passed off again, and Peter was back on the line, “ _Hey, Mel, sorry about that. I’m heading over, right now_.” He shouted away from the phone, “ _May! Where are the keys_?”

She heard him moving again, and once she heard a door close, she started laughing. She asked, “Who was that?”

She could hear the smile in his voice, “ _That’s my aunt, May. She’s not a big fan of your dad if I’m being honest.”_

She snorted, “I kind of got that. Can I ask _why_ she doesn’t like my dad?”

His voice was bouncing like he was running down stairs, “ _Oh, she doesn’t like how much time I spend at the internship, she thinks it stresses me out. That and she thinks Mr. Stark, uh, your dad should pay me.”_

Melanie frowned, “Why doesn’t my dad pay you? He should.”

She could see him shrugging, _“I, I honestly don’t mind it. I love the internship, even without the pay.”_

She sighed, “I know, but he really should, especially for how much you do.” She started laughing, “Is your aunt the only one who doesn’t like the internship?”

He chuckled, “ _Right, we haven’t gotten to that part of our twenty questions yet.”_

She frowned, “What part?”

“ _The depressing part_ ,” he said simply. He sighed heavily, “ _Uh, my mom and dad died in a plane crash when I was little, and my aunt and uncle took me in.”_

“Peter,” Melanie spoke softly, “I’m so sorry, I had no idea.”

He started laughing without humor, “ _Yeah, it’s fine, I mean, it’s not, but…_ ” He cleared his throat, “ _Actually, if I’m being honest with you the Parker luck doesn’t end there_.” She heard the door to a car open and close, followed by Peter sighing heavily, “ _My uncle, Ben, he was shot two years ago.”_ She heard him whisper, “ _Wow, it’s been two years_.”

“I’m sorry, Peter.” _How could a guy like him, happy, upbeat, have gone through so much?_ She couldn't fathom it, sure, her life wasn't perfect, but he'd lost so many people.

“ _It’s okay, I guess. I mean, I’ve worked through a lot of it.”_ He started laughing again, “ _Do you have any trauma you want to talk about? Really capture this chick-flick moment?”_

“What?”

His laugh turned genuine, “ _I'm s_ _orry, that was really badly timed, it’s just, that's something Mr. Stark and I say when we start talking like this. It just keeps things from getting too heavy. Kind of a running joke now.”_

She grinned, “Sounds like my dad. So, in the spirit of _chick_ - _flicks_ , I should mention something depressing from my past?”

She could hear the smile in his voice, “ _That’s typically how the scene goes.”_

She shook her head, biting her lip to control her smile. She closed her eyes, “Alright, now the real question is what depressing part from my past?” He started laughing as she began listing off options, “Do you want to hear about the drug addicted mom? Maybe the day that I left all my friends? The multiple times I thought my dad was gonna die? Throwback to when Loki was attacking New York? I mean, I've got enough trauma to go around, really.”

“ _Wow, we should start a club_.”

“I’ve been thinking about it. We could call it, _Damaged Kids at Stark Industries_? _DKSI_ for short?”

“ _Why does that actually sound real though_?”

She snorted another laugh, “Right? I’m confused as to why we don’t have more members. It's like there are no kids here or something.”

Their laughter tapered off into silence, but it wasn’t awkward; it was a comfortable silence. Melanie was the one who broke it, “Right, so that you aren’t the only one sharing,” she sighed, “remember how I said my mom OD’d? Yeah, so _that_ happened in front of me when I was seven, just shot herself up and she started shaking and…” she shuddered. It wasn’t a pleasant memory to relive. “That was when I called my dad and he decided to take me in full time because she clearly wasn’t stable. But after that I still saw her two, three times a month, so it was fine.

“Then she OD’d again, and I saw her less times, and after the,” she paused, counting, “tenth one, I only see her once a year.”

“ _Wow_ ,” he whispered.

“Yeah, it’s been a bit of a wild ride.” Just like Tony and Peter's chick-flick joke, dry sarcasm was the way Melanie avoided things being heavy. There was more silence, this one heavier than the last, longer, but no more awkward.

Peter broke it, followed by the sounds of a car door opening and closing, “ _Are you in the lab?”_

“Yeah, come on up.”

“ _Okay, see you in a few_?”

“Yep,” they said goodbye, hanging up, and Melanie sent a quick text to her dad letting him know Peter was there. The doors to the lab slid open and Clint walked in, glancing around, scanning the lab. He smiled at her, “Hey, have you seen Tasha?”

“She just left with my dad, they had to go to the Raft.”

“The Raft? What do they need with Tasha _there_?”

The doors opened behind Clint, Peter Parker jogging through, “Hey,” he froze when he saw Clint.

Melanie cleared her throat, “Actually, Clint, that’s what I need to talk to _him_ about,” she pointed at Peter. Clint tossed his head, “Hey Pete.”

“Hi,” he made his way further into the lab. “What do you need to talk to me about?”

“Remember the rumors of the breakout at the Raft?” Both nodded, so she continued, “Yeah, so it happened.”

Clint’s eyes went wide, “How the hell did that happen? It’s literally a giant box in the middle of the ocean.”

Melanie shrugged, “I don’t know. They called in my dad to come look at the tech, so I don’t know if that means they hacked the system or something, but a prisoner got off. And they wanted Nat to go and talk to the other prisoners to try and figure out how it happened.”

“Do you know who got out?”

She shook her head, “Dad didn’t say, just that he was in there because of Spiderman. Which is why he wanted you here.” She watched Peter’s face blanch.

“Toomes.” His voice was shaking on him at just the _mention_ of the guy. _Come on Peter,_ he thought, _you’re fine, it’s over._

“What?” Clint turned towards him.

“Toomes, he, he’s the only guy Spiderman ever got sent to the raft.”

Melanie nodded, “He was the guy with the alien tech, right?” She rounded a lab bench calling to FRIDAY, “Bring up everything you have on Toomes, also known as the Vulture.”

Images and videos started flashing, some of the family-man, Adrian Toomes, and others of the terrifying man in the Vulture suit. She shook her head slowly, “How would he get out? It’s not like he had connections while inside. There's not way you could smuggle any kind of alien tech onto that thing."

Peter’s eyes were firmly locked on the floor, avoiding the images hovering above the table. Clint was shaking his head, “Who called them in?”

“Ross.”

Clint scoffed, “God I hate that guy.”

Melanie rolled her eyes, “So I’ve noticed.” She noticed Peter still staring pointedly at the floor, so she swiped away the images of Toomes. She softened her voice, “My dad said he’ll text me when he finds out what’s going on, so there’s no point in worrying about it now. Even if he got out, there isn’t exactly a lot of places he could go. It’s in the middle of the ocean.”

He nodded, tearing his eyes away from the floor to look up at her. She hesitantly glanced towards Clint, “Hey Clint, it’s your turn to pick dinner. Want to go ask around?”

He scoffed, “No, I’m getting Mexican food. It’s my turn to pick.”

“Well do you want to ask what people specifically want?”

He rolled his eyes, “You take the fun out of being selfish.” He moved towards the doors, calling over his shoulder, “Tell Tasha to text me!”

“Will do!” The doors closed behind him, and she instantly turned to Peter, “What’s wrong?”

His eyebrows shot up, “What? Nothing, nothing, why would you, why—”

“Peter?” She didn’t cut him off harshly, she just spoke his name softly. He stopped, his brown doe eyes dashing up to hers. “What’s wrong?”

He sighed, raking his fingers through his hair, causing the curls to bounce back, “Just, Toomes. He,” he pursed his lips, “he messed Spiderman up for a bit. After fighting him, he went through a lot.”

Melanie looked to the floor, mumbling, “Superheroes aren’t as unbreakable as people think.”

He laughed humorlessly, “Yeah, they really aren’t.”

She sighed, “I think you should warn Spiderman, my dad actually wants him off the streets tonight too… but do it as lightly as possible. Say that he got out, but that Ironman is looking for him. If that doesn’t bring comfort, then I don’t know what will.”

He nodded, “Yeah, I’ll let him know.” He pulled out his phone, typing a message to May saying he’d arrived at the tower, and then turned back to Melanie, “Thanks, by the way.”

“For?” she frowned, eyebrow raised.

“Just getting it, I guess.”

She shrugged, “I live with superheroes, so I think I get it better than most.”

Peter looked around the lab, "So, am I like, staying here?"

"In my dad's imagination, yes. In actuality, that's up to you." She smiled, "But, while you make that decision, we can chill in here, or watch the next Harry Potter movie, or, I don't know, paintball? There's an ice rink on the 73rd floor, if you want to do that."

He laughed, walking over to one of the lab tables, "There's an entire ice rink?"

She smiled, "Well, when my dad first took full custody of me, he had to keep me entertained somehow. For a while there was a floor that was just this massive jungle gym playground thing. It was actually pretty cool."

"That's crazy. Like actually crazy."

"Just a bit," she smiled. "So, what do you want to do?"

"I think I'm good to work in here, if you are."

"Yes, always." She hopped up onto a lab table, "So, what do you want to work on?"

He pulled up the Spiderman suit, "I've been thinking about making a bulletproof suit? He stops petty thefts and stuff, but sometimes those guys have guns. He can dodge them and all, but--"

"It would just be safer if it was bulletproof."

"Exactly. But the problem is flexibility."

She smiled, "Just like the web-shooters."

"Yeah, but this one shouldn't explode," he laughed.

"Well that's good. You know, we could use nano-tech. It's super strong, bulletproof, and moves with the body instead of against it."

Peter frowned, "What's nano-tech?"

"My dad hasn't told you? It's tech we got from Wakanda. Basically, the suit is made up of nano-particles, and with a simple housing unit it can be deployed at anytime. My dad keeps it in his arc-reactor, I'm sure we could put it in the web-shooters for Spiderman."

"Really? That's amazing."

"It's pretty cool. Do you want to give it a try?"

He nodded, and for the next two hours, they worked away, designing and programming the suit. As they worked, they continued their twenty questions. Melanie told him about her favourite food, Korean barbecue, her favourite song (as long as he promised not to tell her dad) _Fishin' In The_ _Dark,_ that yes, she in fact was a country fan, and that she would want to have a meal with Ginny Weasley, from the books, not the movie. He told her that he preferred dogs over cats, would rather live somewhere warm all year round than somewhere with a cold winter, that his biggest pet peeve was people who were unnecessarily loud, and his favourite class in school was chemistry and engineering.

After they set aside the plans to run by her dad before going through with it, Melanie leaned against a nearby lab bench, swiping through all of the unfinished projects. She pulled up a blueprint she'd been tinkering with for the past few weeks and glanced up at Peter, "Do you think my dad would be more or less open to an idea if I had it all planned out?"

"Uh, probably all planned out? Why?"

She sent the blueprint in his direction, "Because I've been messing with this idea for months, and I kind of want to show it to him."

He stared at the spinning diagram, "I'm confused, is that an Ironman suit? But--"

"Yes it is. But I'm thinking if I work it all out now, that by the time I'm 18 and out to the world, I could take on that aspect of the job too."

Peter spun towards her, his eyes wide, "You want to be the next Ironman?"

She threw her hands up, "I'm already heir to Stark Industries, might as well take on the more important part of the job."

"That, that's big."

She looked away, "Too big?"

He shook his head, "No, no, just, I mean, do you really want to, after seeing what your dad goes through?"

"If it means I could save the world, yeah. One day, God forbid, my dad isn't around, and aliens might come to attack earth. What good would I be, sitting up in the penthouse watching the world crumble around me? I mean, we already know we aren't alone, and there are plenty of bad guys on earth already without the idea of extraterrestrials."

Peter took a moment to think his response through. He delicately spun the Ironman suit, this one tailored more to a female body type, and glanced up at Melanie, "One question." She nodded, waiting for him to ask. He smiled, "Would you keep the same colours or switch it up?"

She grinned, jumping off the lab table, "I am so glad you asked."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AOJUKJBVLIWFKEJEFIOHVNOUJIKHNSKN  
> I'm still in shock from the response to this story  
> Also I love awkward Peter Parker on the phone... AND YAY we got May!! We love an overprotective May Parker lol  
> Thank you so much for reading, feel free to drop a comment!  
> Love and appreciate you all,  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	6. Sometimes Heroes Need A Hug

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all,  
> I am so so so sorry that this is 3 days late, but this week was a bit hectic, and Thursday crept up wayyy faster than I thought  
> Okay, second of all,  
> 1200 HITS??? WHAT?? WE HIT 1000 BOYS  
> You guys don't know how happy it makes me to get comments and see the number of kudos and hits growing, honestly, it makes my day every time I see it. So thank you all so much, honestly, y'all make my day  
> Onto the chapter!!

Her phone buzzed in her hand, jolting her from sleep. She jumped, almost throwing her phone across the lab in the process, causing Peter to jerk awake beside her. He reeled back, his eyes shooting wide open and scanning the room as fast as possible, until they landed on the phone in Melanie’s hand. She wiped the sleep from her eyes, looking down at the number.

“Dad, hey,” she sighed, her voice hoarse with sleep.

“ _Hey, sorry it took so long to get back to you, did I wake you_?”

She waved it off, leaning against her hand, “No, it’s fine. How’d it go?”

“ _Well, no trace of the son-of-a-bitch. Completely gone_.”

Peter’s head snapped in her direction, his eyes wide. She leaned in, letting him hear her dad through the phone. She asked, “How is that possible?”

“ _I_ _don’t know, but… hey, is Pete there_?”

“Yeah, he’s here,” she confirmed. “Do you know how he managed to get out?”

“ _There was a projector, way high tech, and it was completely concealed, illusion tech. I only found it ‘cause FRIDAY scanned the place. Once we took that out, we saw what was really there_.”

He stopped, leaving Melanie with nothing to do but roll her eyes, “As much as we appreciate the dramatic pauses, can you just tell us what was there?”

“ _He blew a hole in the wall, and now he’s gone_.”

Natasha’s voice joined the conversation, “ _The prisoners all mentioned hearing an explosion of sorts a few days ago, but when that was ‘investigated’, they didn’t find anything because of the false projection.”_

“Shit,” Melanie sighed, dragging a hand down her face. “That’s some advanced tech. So now what?”

“ _Well, Ross doesn’t want the public ‘panicking’, which is just code for he doesn’t want the world to know he messed up, so we’re not gonna let this leave the compound. I’m bringing the tech in, gonna try to figure out who made it and why.”_

“Alright, I guess there isn’t much we can do right now.” She yawned, “Are you guys on your way back?”

“ _Yeah, we’ll be back tomorrow morning, afternoon the latest. Hang on, what time is it there?”_

“Um,” she glanced at Peter and he turned on his phone, letting her read the time. “Yikes, it is 3:22.”

Tony started laughing, “ _My bad, you guys need to get to sleep, Pete you have school, right_?”

“Yeah,” his voice dropped about half an octave with the sleep, causing a smile to tug at Melanie’s lips. She finally understood all the posts she saw about ‘sleepy voice’ and why it was so great.

Her dad’s voice dragged her from her thoughts, “ _Alright, I’m gonna let you guys go, get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow._ ”

“Okay, talk tomorrow.”

Several goodbyes later, Melanie hung up, and dropped her phone, groaning as she dragged her hands through her hair, “Did we actually both fall asleep at a lab bench?” he nodded, laughing as he rubbed at his eyes. She started laughing, way too hard in a normal situation, but in a sleep-deprived one it made sense, “I’m turning into my dad.”

He laughed too, getting off the bench and stretching, “I think I’m officially sleeping here.”

His shirt rode up slightly as he stretched up, showing off the lowest set of abs. She started laughing at herself again, solely for her man-gazing, and shook her head, “I think so too.” Suddenly she shot up, “Oh my god, we can have a sleepover,” she gasped.

“What?” Peter barked out a laugh, watching as the brief energy drained from her.

_And she was back into the giggles,_ “I’ve never had a sleepover. We can have one in the penthouse living room!”

“You’ve _never_ had a sleepover?”

“Not with kids my age, I mean, back in the day people used to sleep at my mom’s crappy apartment, but they weren’t exactly good company. Most were druggies like her, a couple friends who were prostitutes, the whole nine-yards.” That was another thing about Melanie, when she was tired, she became the most open book in the world. And Peter Parker was talking to her at 3 am.

They started out of the lab, leaving their unfinished projects behind, and Peter said, “You must’ve been happy to leave.”

“Oh I was,” they walked down the hallway to the elevator. It slid open silently, and they both walked in, taking it up to the penthouse level. After a second of silence, Melanie spoke, leaning against the wall, “I used to hate elevators.”

“Why?” he asked, turning his head to face her.

“Small spaces used to really freak me out. First few times I came to the tower, I lost it every time I had to go up. I guess it’s ‘cause my mom used to toss me into the closet whenever she had ‘guests’ over,” she shuddered, “I still hate small spaces, but elevators are fine now.”

Peter was acutely aware that this was definitely something she wouldn’t be saying to him if she weren’t exhausted, but he was tired too. So instead of taking it to a safer topic, he added, “I get claustrophobic too sometimes. Never here, but, like, parking garages, warehouses, they mess me up.” He laughed weakly, “Wow, wide open rooms mess me up,” he dragged his hand across his eyes, “jeeze.”

She looked over her shoulder at him, reaching for his hand and squeezing it, “Hey, don’t do that. It’s an actual problem, it’s a thing,” Peter’s laughter caused her to whack him on the shoulder. “Shut up, I’m tired okay? You know what I’m trying to say, like, it’s a thing and I understand. And when someone understands, it makes the world seem a little less small.”

He squeezed her fingers back, his voice suddenly gone. She slowly turned towards him, her eyes locked on his, keeping their fingers intertwined. They fully faced one another, only a couple inches of space between them; her heart was pounding, he could _feel_ it pulsing through her fingertips. His eyes dashed down to her lips and she slowly rose up onto her toes.

FRIDAY spoke, “ _Penthouse level_.”

Melanie jumped, and both of them instantly turned away and dropped their hands back to their sides. Melanie left the elevator first, her eyes wide as she walked into the room, _were they really about to kiss? Was that actually gonna happen?_

Deciding to ignore what had just happened, Melanie pointed to the two couches in the living room, “Which one do you want?”

Peter shrugged, his face aflame, “It, it doesn’t matter to me.”

“Well, the sun will hit you on that one, so if you want to wake up early, I’ll take the other.” She gestured to the two couches, placed in an L shape.

Peter frowned, stuttering through his words once again, “Y-you don’t have to sleep here, you can go to your room.”

“Well I could also offer you the guest bedroom, but what kind of sleepover would that be?” she said obviously, dropping onto the couch and finally tearing her gaze from the floor to meet his eyes.

“Right, you’ve never had one before,” he chuckled. “Alright, uh,” he tugged at his jeans, “guess I’m sleeping in these.”

“Oh,” she shot up, “you can take some S.I. sweats if you want.”

His brow furrowed, “Stark Industries has sweatpants?”

She grinned, getting up off the couch, “Stark Industries has a whole line of clothes.”

After Melanie found Peter a set of sweatpants and a t-shirt, she went to get her own pajamas on. As soon as the door closed behind her, she fell against it, dragging her hands down her face. _Was she actually going to_ kiss _Peter Parker_?

She shook her head, mumbling, “No more twenty questions tonight. I’m tired and making crazy decisions, and I’m literally talking to myself right now,” she shut her mouth, determined to only monologue on the inside.

She changed into a pair of shorts and an old crewneck, carefully tossing her hair into a ‘messy’ bun that took far longer than she’d ever dare to admit. She finally left her room, dragging two pillows and two large blankets along with her. When she got there, Peter was standing at the edge of the room, looking out the window at the still brightly-lit New York city.

After she dropped the pillows and blankets on the couches, she came to stand next to him, “Peter? You okay?”

“Yeah, I guess. Just, thinking about Toomes,” his voice still had a sleepy quality to it.

She asked quietly, “What did he do? To Spiderman? If you don’t mind me asking, I get it if it’s not okay, I just,” she trailed off, biting at the corner of her lip to keep herself from rambling.

Peter let out a shaky breath next to her, “He figured out who he was.”

Her eyes went wide as she turned to stare at him, “Oh my god. How did he find out?”

Peter shook his head, “He met Spiderman when he wasn’t Spiderman, and put two and two together. Still fought him, and almost killed him, even after finding out.” He dragged his hands through his roughed-up curls, before dropping his arms back to his sides with a heavy sigh.

Melanie didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what she _could_ say. Clearly Peter and Spiderman were closer than he initially led on, and now this _guy_ , Toomes, who seriously rattled Peter and Spiderman was potentially back. So she didn’t say anything. She just turned towards him, waiting for him to look at her, and when he did, she reached up and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

She was terrified for a split second that she’d overstepped; done something weird that was going to make them awkward in a few moments, but she felt his arms wrap around her waist, hugging her back. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, and felt him do the same, the two of them relaxing into one another.

They stood in front of the windows, the entire New York City skyline expanding before them, but it didn’t matter. What mattered, was that Peter had someone to lean on.

They didn’t say anything until they’d both pulled away. Melanie cleared her throat, “We should get some sleep.” She gestured over to the couches and he nodded, walking after her.

Making a split second decision, he reached forward, catching her hand, and stopped her from walking. She turned to face him, about to speak, but he beat her to it.

“Thanks, Mel.”

She smiled, “You don’t have to thank me for that.”

He let go, and they both walked into the living room, the two of them taking their respective couches and laying down. Other than a quick, ‘goodnight’ neither said anything, but both laid there, staring up at then ceiling, thinking about the other.

…

She heard an alarm go off, but it wasn’t hers. Melanie rolled over, groaning incoherently for someone to turn it off.

The alarm suddenly shut off and she propped herself up on her elbows, squinting through the morning light to see who and how. Peter Parker was on the adjacent couch, squinting at his phone screen before he shot up, cursing.

He pulled the blanket off his legs, almost tripping as he went. She started laughing as she got up, stretching her arms, “Morning.”

“Morning,” he spoke hurriedly, trying to fold the blanket that was still partially wrapped around his legs.

“Peter, just, wait you’re still wrapped up in it,” she got up, tossing her blankets off and tugging his out from around his leg.

“Oh, thanks,” he spoke fast, still struggling to fold the blanket. Melanie noticed him holding the wrong corners, and she grabbed his wrists, “Chill, Parker. I’ll do this, you need to get to school.”

“Are you sure?” He asked, already starting to hand the blanket over.

“Yeah,” she laughed. She watched him eagerly pass the blanket over, already reaching for his jeans and shirt at the end of the couch. He grabbed them, dashing down the hall to the bathroom to change.

Melanie rolled her eyes, properly folding the blankets on the couches and once she was finished, she took out her bun, letting her messy hair free. She heard Peter’s voice come from down the hall, “Yeah, Ned, tell the teacher I’m coming if I’m late. I don’t know if I will be, look I’m on my way in like, ten minutes.” He’d swapped out his S.I. sweats for his jeans, but he’d pulled on one of the crewnecks.

Melanie smirked over her shoulder at him, and he gave her a sheepish smile as he hung up the phone. “That was just Ned. He’s covering for me if I’m late.”

“Lucky you.” She yawned, “What time is it?”

He smiled, “6:30. School starts at 8.”

“Jeeze, and you’ve got a bit of a drive. You want breakfast before you go?”

He shook his head, “No, thank you, I’ll pick something up on the way. Thanks, by the way, for everything.”

She waved it off with a smile, “Of course, uh, drive safe, and let me know when you get there?”

“For sure,” he grinned, giving her a wave before he got into the elevator. Once the doors closed, she slumped, dragging her hands down her face, “Yeah no, too early.”

She dropped back onto the couch, grabbing her blanket and pulling it up and around her. “FRI, wake me up in like, half an hour, cool?”

_“Of course, Tiny Stark.”_

“Perfect.” Melanie curled up, closing her eyes, and dozed off for a few more minutes. Everything was silent, peaceful, and then it wasn’t.

The elevator opened, letting in a swarm of voices that dragged Melanie from her dreams. She groaned, mumbling into her pillow, “Come on, just half an hour. That’s all I wanted.”

“Mel?” her dad’s voice was the first to address her, “What are you doing here?”

She propped herself up, forcing a smile, “Trying to sleep, but I don’t think that’s happening anymore.”

He laughed, “Sorry Kiddo. Hey, where’s Pete?”

“You just missed him, he had to leave for school.” She sat up, watching Natasha, Clint and Rhodey file into the room. She offered each of them a ‘good morning’ before she turned to her dad, “Did you bring the tech?”

“Yeah, it’s in the lab.” He frowned, “Why are you sleeping on the couch?”

_Damn,_ Melanie thought, _can’t get out of this one,_ she decided to just bite the bullet, “Oh, Peter and I just slept here instead of the bedrooms.”

He nodded slowly, “Okay,” he pointed at her, “ _we_ might talk about this later. But hey, who wants breakfast?”

So the Avengers in the room had a typical Avenger morning, pancakes, syrup, waffles, and jokes flying across the table faster than Melanie thought possible that early in the morning. She caught her dad giving her a few looks every time she checked her phone, but she figured they would talk about that later too.

Her phone finally buzzed in her hand, and when she saw the name on the screen she smiled.

**Peter Parker: Hey, just got to school**

**Melanie: Hey, and you’re on time. Good job lol**

**Peter Parker: Cutting it close, but yeah, I made it**

She caught Nat giving her an eyebrow raise and quickly shut her phone off, tucking it under the table. The rest of breakfast, she carefully typed under the table, waiting until everyone was engaged in conversation before doublechecking the text and hitting send.

After breakfast finished, Tony gestured her to follow, the two of them getting into the elevator. There was a few seconds of silence, before Tony asked, “So, Peter?”

She glanced up at him, smirking, “What about him?”

“You two are talking an awful lot.”

She half-frowned half-smiled, “We only talk when he’s at _your_ internship. How is that an awful lot?”

“Really? Only at the internship?” He asked as the doors opened and they walked into the lab. “Then who were you texting at the table today?”

She froze, laughing awkwardly, “You caught that huh?”

“No, actually _I_ didn’t. Romanoff did, and texted me about it. So, am I right in assuming it was Pete?”

“No, actually, it was my boyfriend, you know? The guy I’ve been talking to the past few years—”

He shook his head, a laugh tugging at his lips, “Okay, okay, jesus. I really should have watched my sarcasm around you when you were little.”

She shrugged, “Meh, I’m better for it. But yes, if you must know, I was texting Peter. Is that a problem?”

“No, not a problem. I’m just, looking out for you, you know?” He grabbed the projector from the Raft off the table, and tossed it in his hands.

“Oh, god, dad, really?” She groaned. “Look, I promise, I’m gonna be fine. I’m just talking to the guy.”

“Yeah well when I was his age and I was talking to a girl—”

She shook her head, holding her hands up to block him, “No, no, I don’t want to hear this, no thank you.”

He laughed, “Okay, okay, I’ll back off—for now,” she rolled her eyes. He tossed the projector to her, “Ever see anything like that?”

She caught it easily, smiling, but as she looked it over, her smile faded. “Wait,” she looked up at her dad to see him rubbing his goatee and staring at the floor. “This looks like B.A.R.F.”

“Except more advanced.”

“How is that possible?” she asked, the playful mood swept clean from the room.

“I don’t know.”

…

Adrian Toomes crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair, “What, so you’re telling me I’m not allowed out of here?”

Quentin held his arms out, “You’re free to go, but if you do, you’re gonna get caught.”

“So you’re blackmailing me?”

“No no no,” he laughed, “you’ve got it all wrong. I’m helping you. We all have a bone to pick, and yours rests with Spiderman, right?”

He nodded slowly, “Yeah. The Kid destroyed my family. What about it?”

“What if I told you I had a plan to not only destroy Spiderman, but ruin him, and his buddy Tony Stark, and make us,” he gestured around, “the new Heroes of New York City.”

“How are you gonna make the world fall for that?”

“The same way I busted you out, Adrian. When you have my illusion tech, your alien tech, and” he pointed to Connors in the corner, “that guy’s mind,” he laughed. He lifted his beer in a toast, “We can make the world see whatever we want them to see.”

“And if I help you,” Adrian asked, leaning forwards, “we can get rid of Spiderman?”

“Oh, trust me. By the time we’re done, the world will be praising us for getting rid of Spiderman.”

“Then there’s one thing you should know,” Adrian held up his beer bottle, tipping it towards Quentin. “Spidey’s name, is Peter Parker.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MWAHAHAHAHA  
> I'm evil  
> Anyway, thank you all so much for reading, love and appreciate every single one of you  
> Feel free to leave a comment, let me know, do we like the fluff? Want more? Want less? Do you like Melanie and Peter? Shippable?? Personally I LOVE them, but i'd love to hear from y'all  
> Thanks for reading, and I hope that next time I'm on time with the update  
> *guiltily crosses fingers*


	7. Everyone Needs a Pep-talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone actually read this? If so, Hi!!!  
> I'm actually pretty happy with this chapter, kind of different from the previous ones in how its set up, but it's a necessary evil I'm willing to chance to move our plot forwards!  
> Also,  
> 1500 HITS? 93 KUDOS? WHAT????  
> Thank you guys so much, this story was posted on a whim, and I'm so excited to see how it turns out. I'm already super happy with it, Y'ALL HAVE BEEN THE BEST (shout out to Lansfics7 for being the most supportive about this story <3<3<3<3)  
> Thanks for reading, onto the chapter!!

The next few days, Melanie and Tony tinkered relentlessly, trying to figure out who made the tech, and why. Unfortunately for them, whoever had put it in had wiped the entire program except the one projected in the Raft. FRIDAY ran diagnostics over and over, but nothing came out of it other than the original program.

Tony had gotten access to surveillance recording from the Raft, but there was nothing abnormal there. It was all normal until the day Toomes disappeared and the guards noticed. Melanie had watched the film on loop, trying to find some slight glitch, a moment where something moved unexplainably, but there was absolutely _nothing_.

Whoever had done it had known what they were doing. And they must have wanted someone to notice Toomes was gone, which scared her. There had to have been a plot, there was no way that Toomes could get access to any kind of tech, especially alien, the kind he used to rely on, that and the projector was completely mundane technology. No alien tech. That meant, that somehow, someone on the outside had gotten in and gotten him out.

She'd had nothing to tell Peter whenever he asked for updates. There was absolutely nothing new. Someone had gotten in and out, undetected and was leaps and bounds ahead of typical technology. The projector itself seemed to be based on BARF, but even then, it seemed enhanced somehow, steps above.

Speaking of, Peter hadn’t come to the tower in a few days; May wanted him home since she still wasn’t happy about the other day, and he had homework he needed to catch up on.

That didn’t stop them from texting.

They’d been talking daily, mostly in between but sometimes during his classes, and majority of their conversations revolved around school. The concept of high school was foreign to Melanie, but she was enthralled with the idea of it. Peter had definitely hyped up Midtown Tech, and the idea became more and more appealing as the days went on.

Since it was a Sunday night, that meant that it would be just Melanie, Pepper and Tony for dinner. So, Melanie planned out all her arguments, her points, her reasons as to why it would be such a great idea; she only had one challenge left. Actually saying it.

“Hey dad,” she asked cautiously, waiting for him to look up from his dinner plate. He gave her an easy smile, so she decided to just rip the band-aid off, “I want to go to school.”

He choked slightly, causing Pepper to pat his back a couple of times as he reached for his napkin. Pepper turned to Melanie, calmly, “What?”

Melanie sighed, “I’ve just, been thinking about it and I want the high school experience, you know? How many times have you told me stories about high school and all the stuff you got to do?”

Tony cleared his throat, “First of all, if you ever do any of the stuff I did when I was in high school, we’re gonna have a problem.”

She smiled, rolling her eyes a little, “Besides the point.”

Pepper leaned forward, asking calmly, “What brought this on?”

Melanie shrugged, “I don’t know, too many teen movies? I just, I want the high school experience and grade eleven is the prefect year. You get spares, classes are specialized,” she trailed off. She glanced up from twirling her pasta, “I just think, it would be good for me. I’m going to be in the public eye next year, right? Might as well start getting some good exposure before that all goes down. If I’m introduced to the world and no one has even seen me, it’ll make things more difficult.”

Tony eyed her, “Knowing you, you already have a school in mind?”

She nodded, averting her eyes for the first time. _Here goes nothing_ , “Midtown.”

Tony’s eyes widened again, “Midtown Tech?” It didn’t take a genius to string the reasons together. And Tony _was_ a genius. So instantly, his brain filtered images of a doe eyed boy with curly brown hair he tried to keep slicked back. _So that’s what brought this on._

“Why Midtown?” Pepper asked, casually scooping another forkful of pasta.

Melanie smiled, “Their engineering program is fantastic, and it’s a great school to have on record for applications.” She looked down, speaking quieter this time, “And it’s Peter’s school, and he says it’s really good.”

Tony decided now was the time to put his hypothesis to the test, “Peter, huh? You two have been texting quite a bit.”

She could feel the heat in her cheeks betraying her as she tried to speak casually, “Yeah, I mean, we _are_ friends. We started talking about school, and he kept talking about how great Midtown was and it made me curious, I guess.”

Tony nodded, sharing a quick glance with Pepper. She had a playful glow in her eyes and was fighting off a smile. She gave him a warning look before she turned back to Melanie, “How about your dad and I talk about it, okay?”

She nodded, “Yeah, for sure, I just, wanted to put it out there. And I would just be Melanie Austin. No Stark. Obviously, NDAs will have to be signed by staff since you guys are my emergency contacts, but,” she trailed off, stopping herself from rambling further, and nodded slowly, “So, yeah.”

They fell into a silence, and Tony thought through biting the bullet and outright asking her. Catching Pepper’s gaze, he decided against it, choosing to let it play out. A few minutes later, he looked up, “You know what? Sure. We’ll get you to take the entrance exam, and enrolled after the break, huh?” 

Melanie’s jaw dropped, “Seriously?” Tony nodded, smiling, and instantly Melanie was gushing, "Thank you! Thank you so much, oh my gosh. This is so exciting!"

Pepper turned to Tony, not even frustrated. She just had the knowing look in her eyes. He smiled at her, turning back to Melanie, “Why not. You deserve a high school experience. Just saying though, it’ll be nothing like the movies.”

Melanie laughed, “I’m counting on it.”

Dinner passed as it usually did, and Melanie excused herself to her room, pulling out her phone. She opened her conversation with Peter, already grinning:

**Melanie: Heyy**

**Melanie: Guess who just convinced her dad to let her go to school**

Peter didn’t reply for a while, leaving Melanie to flicker uselessly through social media. She found it amusing to actually have a profile when she couldn’t post anything. She loved finding the awful Avengers memes and sending them to the avengers themselves, but most recently, her screen time was dedicated to texting Peter.

As much as she hated when her dad mentioned it, they had been talking quite a bit. He came over after school twice a week and every other weekend, and often they would chat in the lab, the projects in front of them becoming forgotten until someone else, most often her dad, came into the room. He was a great conversationalist, despite his rambling and nervousness and the conversation itself was never dull.

Her phone chimed, and she opened the message, ignoring the already existent smile on her face:

**Peter Parker: No way! Did you actually**

**Melanie: Yeah! He said I can take the entrance exam after christman**

**Melanie: Christmas****

**Peter Parker: That’s awesome! Are you excited?**

**Melanie: Yeah, little nervous though… I haven’t been to a school in a long time**

**Peter Parker: What are you nervous about if you don’t mind me asking**

**Melanie: People. Like, I’m okay talking to people and all but that’s as myself… at school I’m not gonna be me. Plus I have zero experience talking to people our age… much less making them like me… you don’t count ;)**

**Melanie: Does that sound weird lol??**

**Peter Parker: No, of course not. But think about it, no one really knows you, right? So you wont even have to be someone else. You just have to be you without the Stark in your last name. Doesn’t change who you are as a person**

**Peter Parker: Besides, even if I don’t count, you’ve already got me**

**Melanie: Awwwwww**

**Melanie: omg thank you**

**Melanie: youre the best Parker**

**Peter Parker: Lmao anytime Mel**

Melanie put her phone down, the smile still wide on her face. _You’ll have me_ , she grinned, plugging in her phone and walking over to her desk. She flipped to a new sheet, glancing up at the ceiling, “Hey FRI, can you alert me when someone is coming to my room?”

_“Of course, Tiny Stark.”_

She rolled her eyes at the nickname, turning on the desk lamp, and grabbed her pencils. She spun in her chair, propping the notebook against her legs, and began sketching. She started with a basic figure, just shapes, before she started to connect them, shading them in slowly and adding details.

She was working on his curls, trying to get them just right, when FRIDAY spoke up, “ _Miss Potts is on her way to your room.”_

“Thank you,” she muttered, flipping to a different incomplete sketch, and starting on it just as a knock sounded at her door. “Come in,” she called, glancing up and smiled at Pepper, “hey, Pepper.”

“Hey Mel. Can I come sit?”

She nodded, closing her sketchbook and gestured to her bed. Melanie tucked her book away, dropping it back onto her desk and pulled her feet up, looping her arms around her legs, “What’s up?”

Pepper sat on the edge of the bed and clasped her hands together. “I just,” she paused, searching for the right words, and sighed, “Want to make sure you know what you’re getting into.”

Melanie smiled easily, “What do you mean?”

“With this, high school.”

Melanie laughed, “I know its not going to be like the movies.”

Pepper smiled, “I hope so. I just mean, that you’re going to be going into a place where you don’t know anybody. And you haven’t had that since you were in kindergarten.”

She shrugged, “Just a chance to meet new people.”

Pepper nodded, “It is, but it’s also a chance for people to judge you. Make assumptions about you. And Mel, teenage girls?” She looked slightly exasperated, “They’re _mean_. And you, being new, and smart, and pretty, people get intimidated and I’m just a little worried.”

“Pepper.” Melanie smiled, “I know, okay? I’m well aware of how much some people hate high school, and I appreciate you being worried, but I can handle myself. I’m a Stark, remember? Besides, I already talked to Peter and he said he would look out for me. Also, if I’m planning to go to MIT next year, I might as well start working with people.”

Pepper smiled, “You’re determined, huh?”

She shrugged, “It’s one of my best qualities.”

Pepper walked over, giving her a tight hug, “Yeah, it really is.”

Even when Tony only had split custody, half the time he wasn’t around and Melanie spent her days with Pepper. Despite not being blood related, Pepper was her mother in every other sense of the word. And Melanie loved her for it.

Pepper sighed, “Alright, that brings me to my next point.”

“Oh, do I get two _Pep_ -talks today?”

Pepper laughed, shaking her head as she sat back down, “This one isn’t as much of a _Pep_ -talk as more of a ‘I need to tell you something’.”

Her voice grew serious, and Melanie instantly perked up, “What’s wrong?”

“Stark Industries needs to hold the annual Christmas Party. And the Investors can only all make it on _one_ day.”

Melanie smiled nodding slowly, “Let me guess, the 19th?” Pepper nodded guiltily. Melanie shrugged, “It’s okay, really. I mean, it’s not the first time this has happened. It’s not like I won’t have other birthdays.”

“Well, your dad and I both feel bad about it.”

“Don’t,” she laughed, “it’s all good, I promise. To the rest of the world I don’t exist, so you can’t exactly cancel the party for unknown reasons. I’ll be fine. I’ll binge watch Harry Potter and I get to bake my cake, it’ll be a good birthday.”

“But I don’t want you on your own.”

“Don’t worry I’ll text you the whole time, just to mess with you.” She grinned as she stood, “Pepper, I promise, I’m gonna be fine. I’m turning seventeen, I don’t need a birthday party. Besides, the party only starts at what, 4:00?”

“Yes, but we have to meet with all of the investors, be good hosts, do the whole thing—”

“Right, well, it was going to be a low-key day anyways. It’ll be good, I get to watch Harry Potter without dad commenting through the whole thing.”

Pepper smiled, standing up to meet her, “Thank you. Would you be able to tell that to your dad? He’s still beating himself up over it.”

“You’d think he’d be used to it by now. I mean, he runs a multi-billion dollar company, he gets busy.”

“Yeah, but he feels bad. So come on, let’s go. Gotta make him not feel bad about it.”

She grabbed Melanie’s arm, dragging her out of the room, and Melanie just went along, smiling.

She found it amusing that her dad would throw himself into wormholes, fight aliens, blow up entire cities, but avoided trying to tell her he couldn’t be there on her birthday. After careful deliberation, and Melanie saying, ‘Dad it’s fine, I promise’ numerous times, he finally caved and agreed.

When Melanie left the room, he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text. Peter Parker was swinging through the street, chasing down a bike thief when Karen spoke, “ _Message from Mr. Stark.”_ He sent a web, knocking the thief off the bike and against the wall and dropped down next to him, “Mr. Stark texted me? Not Happy?”

“ _No, Mr. Stark has sent you a message.”_

“Woah, okay, damn it, my phone’s at home.”

_“Would you like the messages on your display?”_

“What? You can do that?”

“ _I can do a lot Peter.”_

“Woah, Karen, you gotta stop holding out on me. Can I reply through you too?”

“ _Yes.”_

“Awesome, yeah, let me see the texts.” The words popped up in green across his display, tucked to the bottom left corner.

**Mr. Stark: Hey kid, how’s it going?**

Peter nodded, "Okay, Karen, reply with, wait, don't use exclamation marks. No, use one, um, say, 'Hey Mr. Stark', no that's not right, is it?" After Karen talked him down a little, he finally settled on a message and told Karen to send it.

**Peter: Hey Mr. Stark! Things are good… do you need something?**

**Mr. Stark: Jesus even in text you call me that**

**Mr. Stark: Is that my contact name?**

**Peter: Maybe…**

**Mr. Stark: I thought I would at least get Ironman or something**

**Mr. Stark: Hero**

**Mr. Stark: Saviour of the world**

**Mr. Stark: Your choice**

**Peter: I’ll change it, promise.**

**Peter: What’s going on?**

**Mr. Stark: I need a favour.**

**Peter: For sure, what is it?**

**Mr. Stark: Mel’s birthday is this weekend and Stark Industries is hosting the annual Christmas party and I can’t be there, neither can the rest of the team since they’ll be with me. I don’t want her to be alone on her birthday**

**Peter: You want me to come?**

**Mr. Stark: Kid, you’re her only friend. I know it’s normally the weekend you have off with May, but if you can come over, I’d really appreciate it.**

**Peter: Yeah, for sure. I’m sure May will understand.**

**Peter: So, you really want me there?**

**Mr. Stark: I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t. Think you can come over?**

**Peter: Definitely.**

**Mr. Stark: Great, try to keep it a surprise if you don’t mind. Mel thinks she’s spending it alone. Be prepared to watch Harry Potter movies.**

Under his mask, Peter was grinning. Full on beaming. He was about to reply when he heard the bike robber shout out, “Help!”

He sent a web instantly, this one to cover his mouth and sighed, “Hey man, I’m talking to my boss right now, give me a second.” He sent his reply to Mr. Stark, already over excited and grabbed the bike from the ground. He looked up at the bike thief, saying with a grin, “This is why you don’t take what’s not yours.”

He left a sign with the bike, stringing it up from the balcony above, and started swinging his way back to his apartment. He felt like he was floating on cloud nine. He let out a whoop as he flipped through the air, free falling for a second before shooting another web. He was beaming, but as Karen's voice chimed in, his stomach dropped, " _Peter, what do you want to get Melanie for her birthday?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all can guess what happens next chapter LOL  
> I'm very excited to write it, it's gonna be a *fluffy* one (or is it??)  
> Thank you so much for reading, love and appreciate you all. I'd love to hear from you, so feel free to drop a comment!  
> Love you all,  
> Thank you all,  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	8. I Don't Have a Look

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE HIT 2000  
> OMG  
> Thank y'all so much for the response to this story, I honestly could not have expected this, at all.  
> This chapter was SO MUCH FUN to write.... It's Peter Centric!!!  
> We get Ned, MJ, May, the whole gang coming in, it's chaotic energy and I LOVE it  
> Love you all,  
> ~DancingInTheDark282

Peter slid into the plastic chair, dropped his backpack and leaned towards Ned, “Hey, are you free tonight?”

Ned looked up from his phone, confusion written across his round face, “I thought you were at the Internship?”

Peter shook his head as he ducked behind the desk to grab his notebook from his bag, “No, I made a deal with May to trade tonight,” he tossed his books onto the table and pulled himself upright, “for the weekend.”

Ned sighed, exasperated, “This weekend? Peter, we were going to have a sleepover and work on my Lego Death Star.”

“I know, Ned, but,” he paused. _Could he tell Ned about Melanie?_ After thinking about how his Spiderman secret went- which ended up with his school finding out he supposedly ‘knew’ Spiderman- he quickly made up his mind. “The Christmas party’s this weekend, and Mr. Stark wants me to go.”

“To help set-up?” Ned asked, clearly confused.

Peter gave him an incredulous look, “Dude, no, he wants me to actually _go_ to the Christmas party.”

“Oh. Okay then. So, are we making the Death Star tonight then?” He smiled easily, turning off his phone and opening his binder. 

Peter winced, “Not quite. I need your help with something.”

Ned’s eyes glistened, “Is it time for the _Guy in the Chair_?”

Peter pursed his lips, “Um, not exactly? I need to buy a gift.”

“For Tony Stark?”

“No,” Peter laughed, “not Tony, but I need to get him a gift too. Um, there’s,” _damn. How could he spin this?_ “There’s another high school intern, and I need to get her a Christmas gift.”

“I thought you were the only,” he leaned in, lowering his voice as he made air quotes, “intern.” His eyes shot wide open, “Wait, is there another teenage superhero?”

“No, Ned, what?”

“You know, another ‘internship’.”

Peter batted away his air quotes. “I actually intern there. You don’t need to keep doing this,” he mocked his friend, causing him to laugh. He rolled his eyes, “And no, there isn’t another teenage superhero. There’s just another intern.”

“Doesn’t Stark Industries have a bunch of actual interns then? Why do you need a gift for one of them?”

“No, there’s one specific intern. She’s also in high school, and we’ve become pretty good friends, so I want to get her something.”

“Oh no, Peter,” Ned groaned.

“What?” He laughed, spinning his pencil between his fingers.

Ned sighed, leaning back in his chair, “I know that look. That’s your ‘I like a girl’ look.”

“What? I-I don’t have a look,” he forced out a laugh.

“Please, that was the look you had all of tenth grade with Liz. And all of sixth grade with Rebecca Morris before she moved away. And eighth grade with Jessica T.”

Peter’s eyebrows furrowed, “What? It is not.”

“Peter,” Ned deadpanned, “trust me, it’s your look. So, what’s her name?”

He was fighting off a smile at that point. He shook his head as the final bell rang for class, “Fine, yes, I kind of like her. Her name is Melanie, and I need your help getting a gift. Can you help me out?”

Ned half-grinned, rolling his eyes as he gave in, “Fine, only if we can go to the Lego store.”

“Deal,” Peter grinned.

…

Ned joined him at the grey cafeteria table, sitting down beside him with a huff, “Chemistry’s hard.”

Peter laughed, “It’s not that bad.”

“Easy for you, you’re top of the class.” Peter felt a grin tug at his lips. It was true, he was top of his class in chemistry- he’d downplayed it slightly when Melanie had asked, but he was actually quite good at it.

He pulled open his paper-bag, grabbing the granola bar and asked Ned, “Did you ask your parents about tonight?”

Ned nodded, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth as he spoke, “Yeah, they just want me home by nine.”

“It shouldn’t take that long to find a gift, right?”

Ned shrugged, “I don’t know, she’s a teen girl, I’ve heard that they’re hard to shop for.”

“By who?”

“I don’t know, movies? Oh my gosh, let’s ask MJ.”

Peter tried to shut down his friend, he grabbed his arm, tried to cut him off, but Ned just smiled over at Michelle who somehow, at some point in the last two minutes had sat down without him noticing. “Hey MJ, what do teenage girls want as Christmas gifts?”

MJ didn’t look up from her book. She spoke, her eyes still racing across the worn, yellow pages, “Depends on the girl.”

Ned answered once again, “She works with Peter at his internship.”

Peter dropped his head into his hands, groaning. MJ looked up for the first time, a smirk tugging at her lips, “Who’s the girl?”

Peter glared at Ned, who rightfully so, was completely oblivious as he bit into his sandwich. He forced a smile, “A girl I work with at the internship.”

MJ reached into her backpack beside her, pulling out her green sketch book, “You’re in crisis mode, why?” She placed it on the table, shoving her other book aside as she started drawing him.

He frowned at her book, “I am not in ‘crisis mode’, hey my ears aren’t that big!” MJ gave him a look, one that easily read, _really_?

She asked as she went back to her sketch, “Why do you need to get her a gift? Is this a secret santa situation, or?”

“Peter just likes—”

“Yes.” Peter elbowed Ned under the table as he sent him a swift glare, “It’s just secret santa, but I want to get her something she’ll actually like.”

MJ looked between the two of them; Peter was smiling forcefully and Ned was rubbing at his side with the expression of a kicked puppy, “You guys are weird.” She continued to draw for a minute, adding Ned to the picture, then cleared her throat, “What’s she into?”

“What?”

“The girl, what’s she into?” She looked up at Peter expectantly, “If you’re trying to get her a gift she’ll actually like, clearly you want her to know it was you, so you’re trying to impress her, which means that you most likely like her. And if you most likely like someone, that means you probably know something about her, so,” she paused, smiling, “what’s she into?”

Peter’s mouth moved, but no words came out. Ned smiled at MJ, “He doesn’t see it.”

“Ned!” Peter hissed, but Ned sighed, “Peter, just face it. We’re your friends, we just want to help you out; if you keep lying to yourself you won’t get anywhere. Plus MJ would probably know best out of all of us what to get her.”

MJ smiled, flipping her sketchbook around, “You guys are fun to draw.”

Peter glanced at the drawing; despite himself, his lips quirked into a smile. He’d been in MJ’s book way too many times- this particular entry had him with disproportionally large ears and Ned frowning beside him. He looked up at Michelle, shaking his head with a smile, “You suck.”

She grinned, “And you’re losers.” The bell rang overhead, and MJ got up, “Meet tonight, Rockefeller Centre, cool? We’ll find this girl a gift.”

Peter and Ned glanced at each other, nodding, “Sounds good.” Peter smiled at MJ, “Thanks, Em.”

She shrugged, shouldering her bag, “It’s okay. You guys would be lost without me.”

The group parted ways, finishing off their final classes of the day before they agreed to meet up at 5:00. Ned went home with Peter, the two of them taking the bus back to his apartment. Peter unlocked the door, calling into the apartment, “May! Ned and I are going out tonight!”

“What, where are you guys going?” She appeared around the corner, putting her glasses back on, “Hi, Ned.” She glanced at Peter expectantly, “Pete, I thought _we_ had tonight?”

Peter tried to come up with an excuse, but Ned covered him. Peter sank in relief briefly, _his best friend was the best_ , “Well, Peter and I are going to the Lego store since he’s ditching me this weekend to go to a Christmas party.” Peter thought he was done, but Ned _kept_ _going_ , “And we’re meeting up with MJ because we need to get a gift for this girl, Melanie—”

“Dude,” he cut him off, but May had already heard.

She raised an eyebrow, her brown eyes sparkling with suspicion, “Wait, wait, wait. You’re getting a Christmas gift- for a _girl_?”

 _Great, I’m never going to live this down._ Peter sighed, glaring over at Ned, “Yeah. Melanie, the intern at Stark Industries?”

May started laughing, her hand coming up to cover her giggles, “Wait, is this the same Melanie who was on the phone the other day?”

Peter sighed, _here it comes,_ “Yeah.”

“Oh, well in that case, I’ll come too.”

“What?” Peter froze, his eyes bugging out of his head. _May was coming too?_ At the same time Peter nearly had a heart attack, Ned grinned, “Great!”

“Yeah, I’ll get her a little ‘apology’ present.”

Peter was _seriously_ regretting telling Ned. _This was supposed to be a relatively quiet excursion, me and Ned, but then Ned told MJ, and now May was coming_? _How many more people were going to find out there was an intern named Melanie at Stark Industries?_ No one was supposed to know in general. Now majority of people in Peter’s life knew.

But Peter knew he wouldn’t win. So that was how he found himself walking around Rockefeller centre with May and Ned, waiting for MJ to show. He’d been badgered the whole ride there to give details, _what was she like? How did they meet? Was she nice? What kind of things are she into?_

Peter was about ready to tear out his curls by the time MJ showed up. She walked up behind him in the Lego store, starting up conversation, “You guys were here early.”

“Yeah,” he laughed, “May wanted to join.”

“Wow, so it became a whole thing?”

“Yep, she’s more excited about it than Ned,” he sighed, walking through the isle, working his way through the _Harry Potter_ sets, if he was going to be at the Lego store, he might as well _try_ to find something for her. Majority of them he didn’t understand considering he’d only watched the first two movie, but MJ seemed to get them.

“She likes _Harry Potter_?”

He nodded, a smile tugging at his lips, “Yeah, she’s a huge fan.”

She pulled down a set that came with a large gravestone and a cauldron and what looked like Harry, “Finally some details on this girl. Do you know her favourite one?” Peter looked over the picture on the box, beyond confused, _why is a cauldron in a graveyard?_

He frowned, “No, actually. Just that she loves the series. And she loved the books too.”

“Woah, she’s a full out Potterhead.” She glanced at the sets ahead of them, “If she’s that into _Harry Potter_ , _and_ likes Lego, she probably has these. What else do you know about her?”

Peter glanced over at her with a grin, “I figured as much, I just promised Ned we’d come here. And her name is Melanie, so there’s that.”

“Wow, however great a detail that was, I was kind of hoping for something deeper?”

He laughed, “Yeah, okay, um, she likes country music, loves engineering and all that. Crazy smart too. She’s a big fan of the Avengers actually,” he was grinning and had absolutely no idea. “And she’s just really, like _happy_ , all the time. Like, despite everything she’s upbeat.”

MJ was staring at him, an amused smile on her face. “What?” he asked indignantly.

“Just funny that you totally have a look and don’t see it.”

He rolled his eyes, “I don’t have a look.”

She nodded, putting the set back, “You definitely do, but whatever, I won’t fight you on it.” She glanced up, giving him a deadpan look, “You know, most girls, of course this is me speaking on behalf of all of us, tend to like gifts that show how well you know them. Things with sentimental value.”

Peter nodded, “Like what?”

MJ laughed, “I can’t tell you that. It has to come from _you_ ,” she pointed at him as they made their way out of the store, “believe it or not, girls like that kind of thing.” They walked outside, the cold air wrapping around them instantly, causing Peter to burrow further inside his jacket. Not being able to thermoregulate _sucked_.

He glanced through the nearest window, catching sight of May and Ned waiting in line at the register. He asked MJ, “Okay, what kind of sentimental thing?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know, is there some kind of inside joke between you two?”

He thought of their chick-flick joke first, but he couldn’t think of a gift to go with it, so he settled on a shrug, “Maybe?”

“Well that should be your starting point. Girls tend to like guys with a good sense of humor.” Her phone buzzed in her hand, causing a frown to tug at her lips. She turned it on and her eyes scanned a message, causing her to roll her eyes, “Of course, the one time I’m out.” She sighed, “I need to get home, apparently my mom needs to ‘talk’ to me.”

“Oh,” Peter knew not to press. After becoming friends with MJ, he knew when he needed to back off which was pretty well every time her parents came up in conversation.

She shrugged, tucking her phone into her back pocket, “Well, good luck with the gift.”

“Thanks, uh, good luck at home.”

She smiled, “Thanks, Peter.” She started down the sidewalk, disappearing around the corner and Peter sighed, turning back to the task at hand. What could he get Melanie for her birthday? May and Ned came back out of the store, both smiling and May waved him over. He jogged over, keeping his hands firmly lodged in his pockets and May smiled, "So, what are we getting this girl? An autograph from Spiderman?"

Peter mock-laughed, "Haha, you're hilarious." He turned away, shaking his head with a grin, but froze, an idea suddenly dawning on him. "May," he turned to face his aunt, his eyes lighting up, "what if I _made_ a gift?"

May leaned back, "Wow, that'll for sure get this girl to like you. Is it sentimental?"

Peter laughed, "It's more of an inside joke."

May smiled at him, a look of pride in her eyes, "Then yes, one hundred percent do that. The real question is, what do _I_ get her as an apology gift?"

…

Quentin Beck stood in the elevator, adjusting his face mask as the machine grinded to a halt. The doors peeled open, revealing the dimly-lit room at the top of Oscorp tower. He walked in, sidestepping one of the nurses making their way out of the closed bedroom, and beckoned the drone projector hovering silently over his shoulder and concealing him from sight to follow as he made his way into the bedroom.

Norman Osborn laid in the bed, looking inches from death. Beck stood, watching and waiting until all of the nurses had left his side; only then did he call off his illusion. Norman Osborn’s eyes trailed over to him, and when he spoke, his voice sounded like rough gravel, “Have you come to kill me?”

“No, I’m here to help you, Mr. Osborn. My name is Quentin Beck.”

He coughed, too weak to bring his arm up to cover it, “You can’t help me. I’m dying.”

“You’re right, I can’t, but _you_ , you have the answer. You can save yourself.”

His bloodshot eyes narrowed, “What are you talking about?”

“I know about your experiments that go on below ground. And you and I both know one of them can save you.”

“No,” he weakly shook his head. “I gave that up, a long time ago.”

“But Osborn, it can save you. It will keep you alive and well, and you can go back to the man you used to be. You’re not ready to die, you’re not supposed to die yet. There is still a plan for you, I have a plan for you. You can be the _hero_ , you used to be.”

Osborn looked at the man looming over him, his eyes trying to find a lie, “Most people didn’t call me a hero.”

“I did, and I know a lot that did. And the ones who didn’t? They _will_ , Osborn. They’re gonna _praise_ you, because if we work together, you and I can save the world from the _real_ enemies.”

He noticed Beck’s extended hand and eyed the man hovering over him, “Who are the real enemies?”

“Spiderman, Ironman, the one’s that rule New York right now. We can become even better than them. We can get rid of them. But we can’t do that from here. And _I_ can’t do it without you. So, what do you say?”

Osborn lifted his shaky, slightly green toned hand, placing it firmly in Beck’s. Osborn cleared his throat, “Just one thing,” he paused, his breaths shaky as they left his lips. “As long as I get the final hit on Spiderman.”

Beck grinned, “Welcome to the team.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what y'all think!!!  
> Ned and MJ are incredibly difficult to write, so please let me know how I did  
> Next chapter's gonna be a fun one  
> <3<3<3<3<3  
> Love and appreciate you all,  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	9. Happy Birthday Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO!  
> I am SO sorry that this chapter is so late!!! It's been a very busy few weeks with final assignments and Christmas coming up, but I finally finished this chapter!!! YAY  
> We get Melanie and Peter back together again YAY because that's been a minute  
> And it's Melanie's birthday!!!  
> Thank you all so much for the constant support of this story, omg, its been so unexpected every time I log into AO3.  
> 2500 HITS????  
> Thank you all so much, and now onto the chapter!!

Melanie was awoken by the sweet smell of cinnamon French toast, which meant one thing- Pepper was up. She lazily got out of bed, a smile on her face. She’d always liked her birthday, despite how bad some of them had been, she genuinely enjoyed the day.

And today would be no different. She’d get to bake her own birthday cake, listen to music as loud as she wanted, and finish the night off with a _Harry Potter_ marathon. It would be a good day.

She put on a pair of leggings, pairing it with her favourite oversized _Harry Potter_ t-shirt, and made her way down the hall. Still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she grinned at Pepper who stood over the stovetop, already dressed for the day ahead. She wore a periwinkle blue dress that was partially hidden by a spice-covered-apron, with her hair twisted behind her head, held in place by a clip. She smiled at Melanie, “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you,” she grinned, sitting down on one of the island seats across from her. “You look very nice, you know, minus the apron.”

Pepper shook her head, a bemused smile on her face, “Well I wasn’t gonna get cinnamon on this dress. Your dad and I have to meet with investors in,” she glanced at the watch on her wrist, “An hour and a half.”

“Speaking of the devil, where is dad?”

Pepper bit back a laugh, “He’s getting dressed. He takes longer than I do.”

Melanie grinned, grabbing one of the slices of French toast off the stack, “He’s gotta get his hair right, you know? Trim the beard, the whole thing, it’s a process; he’s got an image, Pep.”

“Thank you, _someone_ understands me.” Melanie threw her head back in laughter as she heard her dad’s voice come into the kitchen.

She glanced back, grinning over her shoulder. Her dad wore a white dress shirt and black jacket, formal as ever. “Look at you guys getting all dressed up for my birthday.”

Tony laughed, wrapping his arm around her, “Happy birthday Kiddo. I’m sorry we’re busy.”

She shrugged, “Thank you, and _please_ , don’t worry about it. I’ve got big plans, baking the cake, watching Harry Potter, it’s gonna be a good day. And we’ll celebrate after, at like, two in the morning.”

He smiled, “So you’re cool if I give you your present tonight?”

Melanie nodded, her tone instantly suggestive, “Unless it has something to do with baking and could potentially be of use to me today?” She cut a slice of toast, drowning it in syrup before she picked it up with her fork.

Tony shook his head, “For once, you’re never going to be able to guess what I got you. Actually,” he pointed to Pepper, “ _we_ , we went in on the gift together.”

Melanie instantly raised an eyebrow, her eyes dancing between the two grinning adults, “What did you guys get me?”

“You’re gonna see tonight, because that’s what you said. No take-backs.”

The elevator opened up, letting in the Avengers, and with that, came laughter. They weren’t dressed up, since they weren’t meeting with investors, so they all strolled in in their pajamas. Natasha walked up to Melanie, joining her at the counter, “Happy birthday Mel. How does it feel to be 17?”

“Not much different than it felt to be 16,” she answered. Natasha stole a piece of French toast off her plate, earning her a scowl from Melanie.

Happy birthdays were sent from around the table, and they all took their seats, Pepper placing heaps of French toast in front of them. Clint called, running his hand through his bed-head, “Hey, Mel, this is from me and Tasha.” He tossed an envelope at her.

She caught the envelope with ease, giving curious glances to both Natasha and Clint as she peeled it open. She reached in, grabbing the ticket stubs from inside, undeniably curious. She flipped them over, and her jaw dropped as she read the ticket.

Natasha grinned, “It’s symbolic of the actual thing. Obviously, we’ll just take the Quinjet.”

Tony cut into the conversation, “ _Who_ is taking my Quinjet? And _where_?”

Clint smiled, “A trip to Budapest. We’re gonna show her where it all went down.”

The group dissolved into laughter as Melanie gasped, “I get to finally find out what happened in Budapest? You guys have been saying that forever!”

Rhodey choked on his toast, “Wait, she gets to know before the rest of us?”

Clint looked up at him, his tone obvious, “She’s earned it.”

“And we haven’t?”

Natasha rolled her eyes, cutting him off, “Either way, happy birthday kid. We’ll go in the summer? After you’re done school and everything.”

“Thank you! Wait, how did you guys know about school?”

Tony’s eyes dropped to the table in front of him, suddenly fascinated in his French toast. Clint grinned, smug, “Your dad was talking about it, he went all ‘dad-mode’, asking me for advice.”

Melanie grinned, “Well, thank you, guys. That, that’ll be awesome.”

Steve went next. He gave her a record, he’d claimed it was one of his favourites when he was her age, and Melanie was thrilled to add it to her collection. For the past several years, Steve had been giving her records; it seemed to be the only type of technology he’d been inclined to. So when Melanie had developed a love for old records, he’d been the first to jump on the hipster bandwagon.

Sam claimed that she was impossible to shop for, being the daughter of a billionaire, so he promised that he would go out and buy her donuts from her favourite bakery. Rhodey scoffed, “She’s easy to shop for. You just gotta have things made custom.” He was all too happy to give her a sweatshirt that read ‘ _Warmachine Est. 2010’._ All around, it was a good birthday, and it was just getting started.

Pepper and Tony departed shortly after breakfast, giving hugs and one final, ‘happy birthday’ before they shipped off. The remaining Avengers sat around the kitchen as Melanie started pulling out ingredients for her cake.

Sam sighed, “I still don’t really get why you like baking your own cake.”

Melanie grinned, “Because I can bake it however I want, decorate it however I want, and it is a genuinely fun process. You tend to develop hobbies pretty quick being the only kid in a tower.”

Steve grinned at her, “Remember when I tried to help you a few years ago?”

Natasha started laughing, “I’ll never forget walking in and seeing Steve being totally showed up by Melanie in the kitchen.”

Steve shook his head, “She was yelling at me too. Apparently I wasn’t ‘folding’ the egg whites?”

Melanie turned, hands planted firmly on her hips, “You were _mixing_ them. How was I supposed to get good macaron out of that?”

Natasha pointed at Melanie, “ _That_. That is why I stopped offering to help after she turned 13. She goes full boss mode.” Her phone buzzed in her hand, a message from Tony popping up.

Melanie just smiled sweetly, “But you love me.”

Natasha rolled her eyes, “Yeah, we do. Alright,” she stood, pushing herself off of her chair. “We unfortunately have been called to assist your father. Apparently investors have started showing up outside of their unassigned times. And to quote Tony correctly, ‘he needs captain righteousness’,” she pointed to Steve with a smile. “Legolas,” she jerked her thumb over at Clint, “The army vets,” Sam and Rhodey started laughing. Nat turned to Melanie, “You gonna be okay in here?”

Melanie nodded, “Have fun talking to investors. Also, just saying, I don’t think this is the image the Avengers should be going for.” She pointed to their pajamas, laughter escaping her as they all simultaneously groaned about getting dressed up.

She waved the off, and once the elevator doors slid shut, she let out a happy sigh, “Time for music.”

Tony’d soundproofed just about every room in the tower, which meant she could play her music as loud as she wanted to without anyone else hearing. She gladly called to FRIDAY, “FRI, wanna play my music on shuffle? Just a mix of everything, like hit me with a random playlist.”

She could practically hear the smile in FRIDAY’s voice, “ _Certainly, Tiny Stark. Do you have a particular song you’d wish to start with?”_

“FRI,” she deadpanned. “My dad’s not here, no one else is around, you _know_ what that means.”

“ _Of course.”_ Instantly the familiar guitar intro began, and then the lyrics rolled in, smooth as ever. _Fishin’ In The Dark_ remained as one of Melanie’s favourite songs, a hidden gem she’d shared with no one; except Peter.

As soon as his curly hair and wide doe eyes filtered into her brain, she couldn’t get him out. Even as her favourite song filled the room and she started the baking process; she couldn’t ignore how her mind wandered to Peter. She hadn’t seen him in almost a _week_ ; for a girl who’d never had another friend in her life, it had felt like an eternity.

She was thankful for texting, and even more thankful that Peter texted the way he talked, but it wasn’t the same. But she forced herself to not text him, it was his weekend with May. She wasn’t going to ruin that.

FRIDAY’s playlist was perfect, as it always was. From 80s songs and 2000s hits to country, along with a few Disney musical numbers here or there, Melanie was _thriving_. As Beyonce’s _Single Ladies_ came over the speaker, like any good fan, she started doing to choreography as she was whisking together her ingredients.

She sang along, unhindered since the floor she was on was soundproof, so didn’t hear the elevator open. She didn’t hear the soft footsteps or notice the bemused smile on his face as he came towards the kitchen. She only noticed him as she turned to grab the mixer off the counter behind her.

Melanie had never jumped so hard in her life.

She’d been alone, dancing and singing to _Beyonce_ , and then suddenly Peter Parker was there.

The bowl of dry ingredients she’d been holding hit the floor before she did. Peter lost it laughing, but he desperately tried to hold it in as she hit the cabinets behind her and sank to the floor, shouting out a few colourful curses.

She had a hand firmly locked on her mouth to hide in her terror, until she laughed. She laughed through her gasps for breath, “Oh my god, you mother hucker, jesus.” She closed her eyes, wondering when her heartbeat would calm down as she shook her head, “What the _fuck_ Peter?” Her shoulders shook with laughter as she slowly pulled herself back up onto her feet.

Peter was still laughing, “I’m so sorry, but that was just,” he couldn’t get anything else out. He had to hold on to the counter to keep from falling over. “You just,” he couldn’t finish the thought.

She finally stood, shaking her head at him, her heart still pounding at a dangerous rate “I am so gonna get you back for that.” She keeled over at the waist, forcing her breaths to come out even despite her laughter. She straightened up, wiping at the flour and cocoa powder covering her legs, “What are you doing here?”

“Well you shouldn’t have to spend a birthday alone,” he smiled, fighting down the last of his laughs.

She raised an eyebrow, “How’d you know?”

He shrugged, “Your dad mentioned it.” She looked up then, getting her first good look at him, ignoring how her heartrate picked up once again as his brown eyes met hers. He’d pushed his hair back today, hiding his curls, but everything else about him was the same. He had on a t-shirt under a grey zip up hoodie and she could see a few words poking out the top, but she couldn’t make them out. Knowing Peter, she figured it was some sort of science joke.

She frowned, “But I thought you were with May this weekend?”

“Well I traded two evenings this week for the weekend,” he played with his hands, a smile still fighting its way onto his face. He looked down at her flour covered leggings, “Sorry about that, I didn’t think you were gonna,” he trailed off, trying to hold onto his laughter.

Melanie snorted a laugh, “Almost die?”

“No, definitely not.”

She shrugged as she looked over her dusty tights, “Oh well, I was baking. They were gonna get dirty anyways.”

He looked around the kitchen, “What were you making?”

“Chocolate cake.”

“Wait, are you baking your own birthday cake?” he asked, his eyes shooting wide open.

She nodded, leaning down and trying to sweep up the flour mixture on the floor, “Well I _was_ , but now I have to start over, because _someone_ ,” she glared at him over her shoulder, “came in and scared me.”

He laughed, moving to help her, but as he leaned down, she threw her handful of flour at him. It hit his chest, causing him to freeze momentarily, his jaw dropped. Once he gained his senses back, he gaped at her, “What was that?”

She smiled easily, “Payback.”

He shook his head, his tone dripping with sarcasm, “Thank you, for that.”

“You’re so welcome,” she smiled, in a tone far too bubbly that it completely contradicted her sentence. He rolled his eyes at her, and the two of them finally picked up the majority of the flour on the ground.

As Melanie washed her hands, she realized that FRIDAY had gone quiet, “Hey FRI, where’s my random playlist?”

“ _I put it on pause for the moment.”_

“Well, thank you for that, definitely helpful, but I think we’re ready for some more tunes.” She turned to Peter, her tone suddenly serious, “If you’re sticking around, we’re listening to _my_ music, and you’re not allowed to make fun of the sheer absurdity of my music taste, got it? That means any rock, country, Disney, pop, all of it- no comments? Cool?”

He smiled, holding his hands up, “I’m cool with any music you put on.”

“Good.” She told FRIDAY to start playing it again, and the first song to play was by One Direction, _of course_.

Peter laughed, “I never pictured you as a 1D fan.”

“I mean, every girl has her phases. Also, does that not go against the thing you _just_ agreed to?" she planted her hands on her hips as she turned to stare at him.

"I didn't make a comment on the song, technically, I talked about the band."

She leaned back, mildly impressed, "Nice loophole."

"Thanks," he laughed, pushing his sleeves up.

She pulled up the recipe, the 3D display glowing blue, and tried to ignore the smile on her face and showed it to him, “Think we can handle this?”

His eyes scanned the recipe, which was quite extensive, and he looked back over at Melanie, “I’m sure _you_ can, I don’t know about me.”

“What, you're not a baker?"

"I mean, May can't really cook all that much either, so I don't have a lot to go off of." He turned to her suddenly quiet, "Don't tell her I said that, if you ever meet her."

Melanie laughed, "Your secret is safe with me." She turned back to the recipe, scrolling along it slightly, "I mean, we kind of level it out skill-wise. It’ll be great, we got this. Can I trust you on the dry ingredients?”

He didn't look all that confident, but he nodded, both of them scanning the recipe for their instructions. Thankfully Melanie had taken out everything they were going to need beforehand so Peter didn’t have to go hunting around the kitchen.

They worked in relative silence, but it was comfortable. Peter could tell Melanie was in her own world; she’d gone completely quiet other than murmuring the lyrics of whatever high energy tune was playing. Her dance moves ranged from tossing her head to swaying to the beat and swinging her hips in time. Peter couldn’t deny that the moves were just the _tiniest_ bit distracting.

So he definitely wasn't ready for anything to be thrown at him.

Melanie reached for an egg, grinned for a second and then suddenly shouted, “Agility test!”

Peter didn’t have time to respond, he just tensed up, and thank god he did because the next second he felt the eggshell smash against his shoulder, the egg whites and yolk exploding all over. Some of the slimy whites even splattered on his face.

Melanie’s hands flew to her mouth as she tried desperately to hold in her laughs, “Oh my god, I did _not_ mean to throw it that high!”

Peter turned to her, still tensed up as the yolk ran down the sleeve of his sweater. His voice jumped up an octave as he cried, “What the hell was that?”

Melanie tried to force herself into a straight face, but her wobbling smile still broke through, “An agility test.” She burst into laughter, “I’m so sorry, I, I really didn’t think that through.”

He turned to her, eyebrows raised, “What did you think would happen?”

She bit her lip, slight laughs still escaping her, “I was just testing your reflexes, you know?”

Peter stared at her, slowly peeling his sweater off, “Is this _still_ because I scared you?”

Melanie shrugged, “You tell me, is it payback enough or,” she trailed off. Peter’d pulled off the egg covered sleeve, showing off his t-shirt. Sure, she’d seen him shirtless; but that was brief, and she had forced herself to not look- _and his eight pack had been slightly distracting, but again, besides the point_. This was the first time Melanie actually saw how jacked his arms were.

He wasn’t even flexing but there was still a very clear definition of muscle.

Peter Parker was definitely rivalling Steve.

And he was staring at her.

And she’d stopped talking a _long_ time ago.

And her gaze was still on his arm.

_How was she gonna spin this?_

Peter was shockingly the one who filled the silence, “Where can I put this?” He lifted his sweater, his ears burning. He’d definitely caught her stare.

She cleared her throat, tearing her eyes away and looking to the sweater, “Um, here, I’ll take it.”

He nodded, “Sure, but first,” he reached into the bowl he’d previously been whisking and grabbed some of the flour mixture. He flicked the powder at her, showering her in cocoa coloured dust.

She slammed her eyes shut as the mixture hit her face, only opening them when she heard Peter laugh. She stared at him, her eyebrows raised in a challenge, “You did not.”

“I did.”

“You _really_ want to go there?”

“I was just testing your reflexes,” he grinned smugly. She reached for the bowl of dry ingredients, but Peter tugged it away with inhuman speed. She stared at him, shocked, but he just smiled, “Gotta be faster.”

Raising a dangerous eyebrow, Melanie asked, “Would you rather I go back to the eggs? Or maybe the butter?”

“You wouldn’t,” he looked confident, but his voice did not sound as sure.

Melanie smirked at him, “You know I live and train with Clint and _the_ Natasha Romanoff, right? Believe it or not, I _would_.”

So she did. She reached for the eggs, grabbing two, but Peter started backing up, taking his bowl with him, “No, no, Melanie, don’t!” She chucked one at him, which he ducked, leaving it splattering against the wall. Both of them jumped as the egg dropped to the floor, but neither put down their weapons.

From afar, she’d never hit him. She had to get close. So she grabbed another egg, restocking, and moved to chase him. He took a large handful of the ingredients, throwing them at her in a cloud of brown. She shrieked, closing her eyes, until the dust settled. She lifted her hand, the egg balancing on her palm and swung, ready to smash the egg on his shoulder.

He reached up, his hand catching hers, and the egg shattered between their hands, pouring down their arms. The egg was uncomfortably warm, spilling down both of their forearms. Melanie started laughing, trying to pull her hand free, but Peter’s fingers were locked around hers. He didn’t let go, trying to make his tone serious despite his smirk, “Truce, truce, okay? Look, we’re both covered, and this can only get worse!”

She nodded, struggling to contain her giggles, “Okay, yeah, you're definitely right, truce.”

He raised an eyebrow, jutting his chin towards her other hand, “Drop the egg then.”

“Put the bowl down,” she countered.

Almost simultaneously they placed the remainder of their arsenal on the nearby countertop. Once both were weapon-free, Peter released her hand, the remainder of the egg joining the slow slide down their arms.

“That’s disgusting.” She shook her head, a grin tugging at her lips, “Okay, we really need to clean this up.” She pulled open one of the drawers, grabbing two towels and tossing one at Peter. They both wiped their hands free of the egg remnants, and Melanie laughed as she looked down at herself, “Damn, you really went for it with the dry ingredients.”

“You came at me with _eggs_!”

“Because you _scared_ me!”

“That wasn’t _intentional_!”

She rolled her eyes, trying to wipe off majority of the dust covering her shirt. She glanced up at Peter and smiled somewhat tiredly, "You know, I think I'll just order a cake."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you thank you thank you for reading!! Good vibes only today!!  
> Feel free to drop a comment, I love and appreciate every single one of them (Lansfics, I need to reply to your last ones BUT I WILL)  
> Hope you all have a happy holidays if you celebrate, and if you don't hope you enjoy the next few weeks!!  
> Love and appreciation to every single one of you,  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	10. Happy Birthday Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im so sorry that this is late  
> BUT- I do have a reason. I'm really trying to get better at writing imagery, so I was really TRYING this chapter and that's why it took so long. In case y'all didn't know, IMAGERY IS DIFFICULT  
> ALSO 3000 HITS??? I love you all 3000, this is crazy, omg thank you all so much!! And thanks for being patient with me :))))  
> Anyways, the next chapter is here and things are gonna start going down!!

Peter and Melanie cleaned up the kitchen to the best of their abilities. Peter wiped down the counter and sighed, “So now that we’re not baking,” he couldn’t help the slight laugh that escaped him, to which Melanie rolled her eyes. “What do you want to do?”

“Well, I’m probably gonna change,” she gestured to her still-covered shirt, “but then I normally watch Harry Potter.” She shrugged, picking up the final pieces of eggshell from the ground.

“We’re on the third one, right?” Melanie couldn’t ignore the way her heart did a little flip when he said ‘we’, but she did _seriously_ try.

“Yeah, remember how the last one ended?” She asked once her heart calmed down a little.

“I think so? Dobby was free and Harry saved Ginny, right?”

Melanie laughed, “Yeah, that’s pretty much all you need to know.” She dropped the shells into the garbage, and finally stood up with a sigh, “Okay, I think we’re good.”

She excused herself to go change, asking FRIDAY to set up the movie as she walked down the hall. She closed the door behind her, sighing happily as she tugged off her dirty t-shirt. She glanced up at herself in the mirror, laughing at the streaks of dust in her hair and across her cheeks, “Nice, Parker. Nice.”

While Melanie was busy cleaning herself up, Peter went back into the living room and grabbed his backpack, checking it for the fifth time that day to make sure the box was still in there. He’d checked it twice before he left his house, once on the bus, and once in the elevator on the way up. And like every other time, the box was still perfectly in its place.

He let out a sigh of relief, feeling excitement grow in his chest until he realized he’d have to actually _give_ her the gift and see her reaction. His stomach twisted at the thought, _what if she didn’t like it?_ He heard her coming down the hall, and he quickly shut his bag, tossing it to the far side of the couch and sat down just as she turned the corner. She’d taken her hair down from its bun, leaving it just slightly curled at the ends. _Wow._ He didn’t get to see her with her hair down a lot, most of the time she had it up, but she should definitely leave it down more often. The colour was darker than his own, making her eyes pop even more than normal. And she had _really_ nice eyes.

As she came down the few steps into the living room, he noticed she’d swapped her t-shirt out for a crewneck. As Peter read her sweater, he started laughing, making Melanie grin, “It’s a gift from Rhodey. I have to hand it to him; he does get pretty creative with gifts.”

“What kind of gifts do you _get_ from the Avengers?” He couldn’t see the Avengers casually strolling malls for gifts to get her, especially since it would raise a lot of questions. He could see the headlines now: _Captain America: America’s Newest Father To-Be?_

She dropped onto the couch beside him, and pulled her knees up, “I mean, they’re pretty normal if I’m being honest. Steve gets me records most of the time, all the old-timey stuff, Nat goes pretty extra. She gave me a taser for my fourteenth, this year her and Clint went in on a gift and promised me a trip, so it really ranges year to year.”

“How about your dad? He’s gotta give cool gifts.”

Her smiled widened, “Yeah, he’s really good at gift giving. I mean, for the first half of my life here he just gave me different rooms and floors, but after that he actually got surprisingly sentimental for, well you know, ‘Tony Stark’.”

Peter saw something shift in her eyes, and he wanted to ask about it. Ask her how she felt about the whole ‘Tony Stark’ thing. He opened his mouth, unsure what he was going to say, but she beat him to it, “Ready for your life to change?”

He shut his mouth, mad at himself that he took too long to ask, but decided to go with it. He leaned back, his eyebrows drawing together, “Because of the third Harry Potter movie? It’s that good?”

“Yes,” she answered obviously. “The director changed from the first two, and he gets the storytelling way better, I’d say. Oh, and the actor who played Dumbledore in the first two passed away before they could do the third one, so Michael Gambon, the _new_ actor, he came in and he’s really good. He kind of loses the goofy side of Dumbledore, but he really gets his dramatic side. It’s probably my favourite of all the movies even though it used to terrify me when I was little. The thing is though, they missed a few _massive_ parts of the book, so I’ll explain that after.”

Peter watched her eyes light up as she spoke, tossing her hands almost every third word. He felt a smile tug at his lips as he just watched her, clearly enthralled with what she was talking about. She glanced over at him, tearing her eyes from the screen and saw him smiling at her. “What?” She asked, suddenly self-conscious.

He stared at her with a look of almost admiration in his eyes, “You _really_ like Harry Potter, don’t you?” Every time the franchise had been brought up; Melanie just _lit up_. Her eyes sparked, her grin widened almost instantly, she just started glowing.

She ignored the fiery blush across her cheeks and rolled her eyes, smiling in spite of herself, “What gave it away?”

“Just, _how_ you talk about it.” He smiled, “You can tell that you’re really passionate about it.”

Melanie scoffed, “My dad just says I’m obsessed.” She stared off into space and shook her head, pulling her from her thoughts. She looked over at Peter, smiling, hoping to convey her genuine appreciation, “So thanks.”

He nodded, his throat suddenly tight as her icy blue eyes met his. They both turned back to the TV, Melanie calling on FRIDAY to start the film, and they fell into silence. The silence was filled by the iconic music, Melanie slightly murmuring the lines under her breath, in accent, and Peter’s confused questions.

_Was that Harry? He blew up his aunt?_

_Where did the dog go?_

_Why would Harry go looking for Sirius Black? He’s literally_ trying _to kill him._

Melanie had to keep herself from giving spoilers, only answering what she could and leaving the rest with a shrug of her shoulders and a slightly annoying, “I don’t know.” As the movie went on, Peter stopped asking questions, just watching the masterpiece of a movie, making Melanie laugh with his very obvious reactions.

“Wait, FRI, pause it.” Peter sat up, turning to Melanie, “Wait, Sirius Black is his _godfather_?”

Melanie laughed, “Yeah, he is.”

“What, so _why_ is he trying to kill him? And why would he join with the evil guys?”

Melanie shrugged, “I don’t know, you’re just gonna have to keep watching.”

Peter groaned, dropping back against the couch, and he sent a swift glare at Melanie. His voice came out in a slight huff, “Why can’t you just _tell_ me?”

She rolled her eyes, turning her head and leveled her gaze with his, “Because you need to watch it. You need to see it for yourself, and _then_ we can talk about it. I’m not spoiling anything.”

“But I have to watch all _eight_ movies because you’re just gonna keep saying ‘I don’t know’,” he mimicked her voice, making Melanie wheeze with laughter. Her laughter rang through the room, bringing a smile on his face as watched her shake her head, grinning.

She turned to face him, leaning in until their foreheads were almost touching, “Just watch the rest of this movie, and I’ll answer any questions that I can.”

He frowned, his bottom lip popping out in a pout, “Fine. You better answer my questions.”

She laughed as she turned back to the TV, “I promise. Go ahead FRI.”

The movie continued to roll, Melanie silently loving how _genuine_ Peter was. When he was shocked, he showed it, his jaw would drop and he’d turn to her, his eyes wide. When he didn’t like a character, he would glare at them as they moved across the screen and complain quietly. It made the entire process of watching movies even better than it already was.

She caught herself watching his reactions more than she watched the movie, and _damn_. She was falling for this boy, _hard_. Not that she’d ever admit it. She had to be getting ahead of herself, they’d only known each other a few _weeks_. There was no way- especially since he actually saw other people, unlike her.

So, for the first time in her life, Melanie had to force herself to pay attention to _Harry Potter_.

…

Two movies, and several answered questions later, Peter and Melanie were scrolling on her phone through different cakes to order. Melanie had explained everything she could, getting a good laugh from his shock at how much the movies didn’t include.

They were both slumped back against the couch, leaning close together to see the different options. “How about this one?” She showed him a picture of the cake; it was five layers with striped icing along the side and chocolate drip around the edges.

Peter looked at the picture, swiping through the different angles, “I don’t know, it almost seems like too much going on.”

“Noted,” she scrolled further on the website, her eyes scanning each of the cakes in turn. “Oh, how about this,” this cake was iced in white with a dark chocolate drip, and four layers. “Simpler, less going on, but still nice? And they make it in their cinnamon spice recipe, so that’s a win.”

Peter turned to face her, almost instantly regretting it once he realised how close they were. Her nose was only a few inches from his. He swallowed, forcing his voice to come out normal, “You know it’s ultimately up to you, right?”

She shrugged, “Well yeah, but I would like a second opinion.”

“Then definitely that one.”

She smiled at him, “Was that so hard?”

“No,” _but this would be._ He sat up, leaving Melanie to realize just how much she’d been leaning towards him, and she awkwardly straightened up, ignoring the blush on her cheeks. Peter grabbed his backpack from the other end of the couch and sat down next to her, hesitantly. “So I, uh, I made you this.” He reached into his backpack, his hands shaking as he pulled out the small package.

Melanie sat up, her stomach twisting with butterflies as she grabbed the box out of his hands, “Peter, you, you didn’t have to get me anything.”

“I didn’t, I made it,” he smiled, not quite ready to meet her eyes. “I wrapped it too, that’s why it’s not the best.”

She smiled a little as she looked over the wrapping. It was a blue and white pattern fitted with snowflakes and she carefully ran her hands along the edge. It wasn’t perfectly wrapped, not even close, but it made it even better. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. She pulled at the paper, tearing through it to reveal a small, black box. She glanced up at Peter curiously, but his eyes were locked on the box, his knee bouncing as he waited for her to pull back the lid.

She carefully pulled off the lid, placing it next to her on the couch, and grabbed at the white tissue paper. She peeled it back and froze. Her hand came up, covering her mouth as the other hesitantly reached into the box.

Peter’s knee was bouncing like crazy, his hands itching to start drumming on his legs as she carefully pulled the necklace from the box by its chain.

Melanie’s voice was soft, “Is that?”

Peter nodded, his voice tighter than he’d hoped, “Yeah.”

She looked up at him, her eyes wide in awe, “The one that we—”

“Yeah.”

It had only taken a few minutes to make, but it had taken a long time to convince himself to do it. He’d taken the web cartridge from he first day they’d met, the one that hadn’t exploded, and turned it into a necklace. He knew it was safe since it was missing a fair share of webbing, so it wouldn’t crack on her and accidentally explode.

She stared at him, her lips parted in a soft sigh, “Oh my god, Peter, that’s—”

“I hope you like it,” he cut in, his eyes darting between her and the necklace.

“I, I love it,” she laughed at herself for her lack of words. “It’s perfect, honestly, that is one of the nicest gifts I’ve ever gotten.” She smiled at him, hoping he could feel how much she meant the next two words, “Thank you.”

His eyes met hers, finally settling there and not moving away. He smiled, looking hesitantly elated, “You like it?”

“Yes, I, I love it. Could you put it on me?” she held it out to him and he carefully took it in his still shaking hands, sighing in relief as she turned away from him, lifting her hair. He’d put it on a shorter chain at May’s suggestion, and only slightly regretted it as he had to get a lot closer. He was so close, he could smell her perfume, something sweet and summery, ever so faintly left on her skin. He carefully brought his hands around her, draping the capsule on her chest and pulling the chain behind her head, making sure to not accidentally touch her neck.

His fingers moved nimbly, taking extra caution to not break the clasp as he hooked it into the chain. She reached up, playing with the small black casing around the web fluid, and dropped her hair down, turning to face Peter, their knees almost touching. She hesitantly reached for his hand, looping her fingers around his, “Thank you.”

He gave her hand a light squeeze, “Happy birthday, Melanie.”

They spoke in hushed whispers despite being the only two on the floor, both scared to make a wrong move and break the moment. And both were even more scared that the moment would end before either made a move.

Melanie glanced down at his lips, her eyes darting back up to his eyes, and leaned forwards slowly, giving him time to back up, but she _really_ didn’t want him to back up. Her heart was pounding, it sent tremors into Peter’s fingertips, and with every inch she got closer, the faster it went.

Peter made the terrifying but thrilling decision to lean forwards, the two of them getting even closer, only a few inches separating their faces. He could feel her warm breath brushing across his cheeks, and he timidly made eye contact with her, both pausing as their noses almost touched.

He needed to know. He needed to make sure she felt the same way.

Her icy blue eyes met his, and she gave him the slightest of nods. She was shaking, trembling from the tips of her fingers and down to her toes, terrified and excited. Hesitant and impatient. Peter reached up with his other hand, his fingertips sending chills down her spine as he carefully pushed her hair back.

And then they heard it.

A loud, echoing boom from the floor below. Peter’s hair stood up on end at the same time Melanie jumped. She was about to shrug it off, assure him that it was probably just her dad showing off his newest suit, when there was another explosion, except this one sent tremors through the floor and the lights started flickering.

Melanie closed her eyes, holding back a curse as she had to physically force herself away from Peter, asking, “FRI, what the hell is that?” There was no response. FRIDAY was silent. “FRI? FRIDAY?”

Then came the screams and shouts, heard through the floors below. Melanie and Peter jumped up instantly, their hands still firmly interlocked. She pulled her phone from her pocket and tried to turn it on, only to be met with a glitching screen, “Something’s interfering with her network.”

She turned to Peter, panic taking over every other emotion she was feeling just seconds ago, “Something’s wrong.”

What happened next was a blur. There was a crashing sound, and then Peter threw Melanie out of the way, sending her flying backwards at the same time the _thing_ broke through the floor. Melanie hit the ground, rolling a few feet before she stopped, landing on her stomach, finally able to think. She pushed herself up onto her hands, and screamed, “PETER!”

He ducked the claws that lashed out at him, slamming his wrists together to spawn his webshooters. He sent out a string of web, but the thing shifted around it, becoming hollow where the web went right through him.

“What the f—” someone flew through the hole in the ceiling, and Peter thought for a moment he was seeing things, and _Harry Potter_ had gotten to his head. He could have sworn the head of the man was one of Professor Trelawney’s divination orbs, and he wore a long red cape with gold shoulder pads. He flew through the hole, green triangles floating around his wrists, and Peter realized he wasn’t mistaken about the orb for a head. The man sent beams of green energy towards the shadowy-monster, letting out a battle cry as he did.

The thing let out a screech, falling towards Peter, and Peter flipped out of the way without thought, landing in his signature crouch along the back of the couch; one leg bent, the other outstretched, his arm up. The shadowy creature dropped through the hole, and the man with the glass ball for a head dove after it.

Peter jumped off the couch, staring down the hole to the floor below. The Avengers seemed to be the last ones in the room, all of them watching what was happening at the same time Peter was; the glass-head guy was using the green beams again on the monster, except this time, the monster exploded, vanishing into thin air, its screech dying with it. Everything went suddenly quiet. The glass-head guy straightened up, gave a salute, and flew, leaving a trail of green smoke as the only sign he’d been there at all.

Tony ran forwards, his mask receding and he called up, “Pete, you good?” Peter heard the underlying question, _is Mel okay?_

Peter nodded, “Yeah, we’re fine.” He didn’t think twice as he answered, but he suddenly spun around, “Mel?”

She called from the ground where she’d pulled herself up against the wall, “I’m good.”

He hurried over, wincing at the bruise she was currently studying across her forearm, “Are you okay?”

She nodded, “Yeah. You’ve got one hell of a throw, Parker.”

_That was from him?_ Peter briefly remembered pushing Melanie out of the way as the floor exploded, and instantly his stomach twisted in guilt, “I’m so sorry.” _He hadn’t thought twice about it- he just knew something was coming and he had to get Melanie out of the way._

She shrugged, her eyes now stuck on the gaping hole in the center of the room, "It's fine, not the problem to worry about right now." She nodded towards the now demolished living room, her hand rubbing the forearm that crashed into the ground, “Any idea who _that_ was?”

Peter shook his head, “No. I’ve never seen him before.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks y'all for reading, I hope to have the next chapter up sooner rather than later, so fingers crossed... Please please let me know what you think, I really hope that this chapter was worth the wait!!!  
> Until next time,  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	11. Crushing on a Superhero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all!  
> Back with another chapter, this one in much better time than the last one!!  
> Lots to unpack here, but I'm actually very happy with it!!  
> Thank you guys for the constant support, and the crazy number of hits. It literally blows my mind EVERY TIME  
> So, I love you all 3000  
> Onto the chapter!!

That night was long. Tony and Pepper were on damage control, talking to press and making sure all of their employees were okay. The worst injury was thankfully just some cuts from broken glass. The Avengers made their way back upstairs, all of them avoiding the gaping hole in the center of the living room, instead opting for the kitchen.

They sat in silence for a while, all of them, Peter and Melanie included, staring at the hard grain of the long wooden table, listening to the news FRIDAY kept pulling up. Melanie had run a full system check, and everything worked fine.

Right before FRIDAY went offline, she saw a massive surge of power- that was it. The surge was fast, but its effects weren’t over until Guy-With-A-Glass-Ball-For-A-Head left.

That was another thing, none of them had ever seen him before, and FRIDAY wasn’t able to run any kind of scan or voice recognition on him since she was down. Melanie could tell FRIDAY felt bad, despite her being a program. When Melanie had asked her what had happened, she’d apologized.

Natasha asked as the newest news channel showed the footage, the green smoke trail that followed after Guy-With-A-Glass-Ball-For-A-Head, “So no one has any idea who he is? Or better yet, what attacked?”

Steve shook his head, “I couldn’t get close enough to see what it was.”

Sam chimed in, “It had to be some kind of alien. Did you see what it was made out of?”

Peter spoke tentatively, “It wasn’t made of solid matter. It could shift.”

Melanie side-eyed him, replaying the scene in her head. _He ducked the claws that lashed out at him, slamming his wrists together to spawn the webshooters. He shot out a string of web within seconds, zero hesitation, but the thing shifted around it, becoming hollow where the web went right through him._ She couldn’t get it out of her head, not because of the monster, although that was also living rent-free in the back of her mind, but because of Peter’s reaction. It had been too fast.

Another scene flashed through her brain _, the monster let out a horrible scream, falling towards Peter, and Peter flipped out of the way without thought. He landed along the back of the couch perfectly; one leg bent, the other outstretched, his arm up, fingers poised over the webshooter._

Melanie’s eyes shot wide open as she finally got it. She looked up at Peter beside her, her eyes almost bulging out of her head. Natasha caught her rather obvious look, and asked, “What’s wrong, Mel?”

Peter turned to her, his eyebrows instantly drawing together at her expression. She quickly made up a lie, “I just remembered, I have an assignment I need to hand in online, tonight.” She stood, “Uh, I’ll be right back.”

The Avengers watched her, all of them equally confused and sending looks around the room. Clint laughed, “Well that was weird.”

Melanie ducked down the hallway to her room, holding her head in her hands, _hold up. Peter couldn’t be—could he?_ She got to her room, closing the door quickly behind her and took a deep breath. She laughed, her hand over her mouth in shock, “I’m an idiot. How did I not, oh my god.”

In the kitchen, Tony and Pepper arrived, emerging from the elevator, both still wearing their formal wear. Tony’s tie was already loosened, dangling off his chest for a moment before he tugged it off. He looked up at the TV that was still showing news clips on loop.

Natasha called, “How’d it go with the press?”

“Fine,” Tony sighed. “Anyone know who our shadow monster friend over there was?” His eyes were trained on the gaping hole in the living room, currently being cleaned up by DUM-E. He was met with a resound ‘no’, in varying degrees of dramatics.

He scanned the table, glad to see no injuries on his friends, but something was wrong with his headcount. Pepper spoke up, “Um, where’s Mel?”

Sam called, “She had to go hand in an assignment or something.”

“Jesus, that kid and school,” he gripped his forearm tightly, his knees locked until Pepper gently pushed him towards the chair at the head of the table. He stubbornly gave in, dropping into the chair and giving Pepper’s hand on his shoulder a thankful squeeze. He looked at the youngest at the table, “Hey Pete, do you want to go grab her for me?”

Peter nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be right back.” He got up, leaving the unnervingly loud news anchor behind him, her voice echoing in his ears.

_No one has seen the unknown super before. Questions surrounding his origins have begun floating around social media, and many questions remain there. But the biggest questions on everyone’s mind, is why? And who?_

He got far enough away that her voice tapered off into the background noise of the rest of the floor; humming machines, DUM-E’s buzzing noise as he moved, the ticking of the clock on the wall, and he was able to slowly relax his shoulders. His senses had gone a little hay-wire after the attack, putting him on edge the whole time he sat at the table.

He made it down the hall to Melanie’s room, and he froze outside the door. His hair stood on end, his muscles tensed up, and he had no idea why. He looked around the hall, but there was nothing dangerous there, no shadow monsters or unknown superheroes, nothing _there_ at all. It was empty. He couldn’t figure out why his sixth sense was going crazy as he knocked on Melanie’s door.

She pulled it opened almost instantly, and he felt his entire body tense up at the sight of her. _Why?_ There was no one holding her at gunpoint, she was just standing, in front of her door, and his senses wouldn’t. Shut. Off.

He gestured back to the hallway where he could hear the Avengers talking and only got a feeble, ‘hey’ out before Melanie cut him off. She scoffed, with a laugh that was anything but humorous, “You’re _him_. You don’t _work_ for him, or _train_ with him.”

Peter finally understood why his senses peaked at that exact moment, his blood pumping through his veins, his heart beating rapid and aggressive, pounding in his chest. Peter managed to make his voice relatively normal, slowly shaking his head, “What are you, what—”

“Peter.” He instantly shut his mouth. “You’re really gonna keep lying? What, you’re just _casually_ wearing the webshooters and you’re that quick to react? You did a backflip without thinking! And please, you _threw_ me across the room by pushing me, like I caught _air_.”

“But I—”

She turned away, walking further into her room. “And you’re way too jacked to be a normal kid, you’re crazy athletic, oh my god, I’m an idiot.” She threw her hands up, raking them through her hair.

Peter closed the door, instinctively ready to grab her shoulder but he chickened out at the last second. Instead, he settled for an overly pitchy ‘ _no_ ’. “No, you’re not an idiot, I, I’m sorry, I _wanted_ to tell you. I wanted you to know, but I had no idea _how_ to tell you, and when your dad kept going with my lie, I just never found a good time, and—”

She spun around, her finger pointing at him accusingly, “A good time? How about when we were literally building his suit? You know, when you specifically referenced Spiderman as a ,‘he’, needing a bulletproof suit? Or when we were working on the webshooters? Were those not good times to mention it, instead of blatantly lying to my face?”

Guilt ripped at his stomach as he turned to Melanie, and he forced a laugh, “Wow, those actually would have been really good times, now that you’ve pointed it out.” Melanie crossed her arms, her left eyebrow arching dangerously as she glared at him, clearly not impressed by his humor. Peter sighed, “I’m sorry I lied to you.”

“How could you _hide_ something like this? I thought you would trust _me_ with _this_ of all things. I mean, how many times have we been texting until midnight, talking about almost everything?”

“I wanted to, I do trust you, and I’ve been wanting to tell you.”

“When?” his eyes snapped up to hers, getting locked there from the intensity of her stare. “When were you gonna tell me?” He stumbled through his words for a few seconds. Enough for Melanie to roll her eyes and break their gaze, “I can’t believe this.” She looked up at the ceiling, speaking quietly, “Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want you to know him before you knew me.”

“What?”

“I didn’t want you knowing Spiderman, and then Peter Parker. I wanted you to get to know this,” he gestured to himself, “this side before you knew _that_ side. And when I was here, I didn’t have to be Peter Parker before the powers like I do at school, I got to just be,” he gestured to himself again, “this. I got to be a normal kid for a minute. Besides, I’m kind of paranoid about the whole secret identity thing, especially here, because last year where Steve almost dropped a plane on me.”

“Wait, Steve did _what_?”

“Not important,” he brushed it off. “I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you. And I really, really meant to, but it was just, I liked just being me,” he trailed off, realizing he’d repeated himself too many times.

She seemed to mull it over for a second and slowly nodded, “Okay. First of all, you didn’t have to hide this from me,” she watched him open his mouth to speak, but she cut him off, “I know, I get it. Secret identity is secret for a reason, but I would have understood, literally better than anyone. Second, we’re definitely going to touch back on that whole ‘Steve dropped a plane on you thing’ later. And Parker, even if I knew, I still would have gotten to know this.” She mocked, gesturing to him for a second, “Before I got to know ‘Spiderman’, even though you literally _are_ him.”

“It doesn’t feel that way,” he laughed awkwardly. Melanie looked at him expectantly, her eyebrow arch more curious than dangerous this time. He sighed, “I always think of Spiderman as someone else, not me. Peter Parker and Spiderman are pretty much complete strangers to each other. So when I said _Spiderman_ needed a bulletproof suit, I meant it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Spiderman can take down a hoard of bad guys in a few seconds and drop a witty comment every two minutes. He talks to cops, he can show off, do all this crazy stuff and save the day. Peter Parker, I, I stutter around everyone, and I never know what to say, and I build Legos with my best friend, and fix up old computers that I get out of the _garbage_ , and I’ve never even been to a high school party, and I need to stop because wow, I am _not_ making myself sound cool.”

Melanie whispered, “But Peter, you’re the one doing all those things. You save the day and drop the witty comments, I’ve seen it, I’ve seen you do it.”

“But it doesn’t _feel_ like me. Yeah, I’m in the suit, but the second that mask goes on, I’m someone else, and he is way cooler than I am, and I know, it doesn’t really make sense but—”

She sat down on the bed, sighing, “It does. My dad is the same way. Sure, he’s sarcastic and witty without the mask, but he’s also a lot more scared of things than he lets on when he’s wearing the mask. Hell, in the mask he’s not even a parent, but the second he gets here, he’s my dad.”

“I’m sorry.” He didn’t think he could say much more than that. He _should_ have told her, he had chances to but didn’t. He did come up with one other thing to add, “Thank you, for understanding.”

“I’m still mad at you.” She sighed, “But I guess I get it.”

He sat next to her on the bed, their hands right beside each other, gripping the edge of the mattress. “I hope this doesn’t change anything between us, not that there’s,” he coughed, “something between us, or _not_ , I mean, just, _if_ there is—”

She grabbed his forearm, grounding him for a second, “Peter.” She waited until he looked over at her, and she gave him a smile, “It _doesn’t_ change anything. If anything, it actually adds almost another layer of weird-normalcy to my life.” _Raised by superheroes, have a crush on a superhero, it only makes sense._

They sat in silence for a few moments before Melanie turned to him, “So who else knows?”

Peter sighed, “Your dad, since he made me the suit, May and Ned, because they found out last year.”

It made her feel slightly better that she wasn’t the only one who found out and wasn’t told. “Wait,” her voice dropped to almost a whisper, “So when you said Toomes knew who you were…”

He laughed humorlessly, “Yeah. I was actually going with his daughter to the dance when he found out.”

Melanie’s eyes went round, her hand stifling her gasp, “Oh my god, Peter, if I’d have known—”

He shook his head, smiling ruefully at her, “No, don’t, it’s fine. I mean, knowing that he’s out there, yeah it freaks me out, but he hasn’t come for me yet.”

“But, Peter, it’s—”

“I know, Mel.” He bumped her shoulder, forcing a smile onto his face, “But I can’t stop being Peter Parker and New York needs me to keep being Spiderman.”

“But—” Peter jumped up, quickly grabbing her laptop off her desk and handing it to her. “What are you—"

There was a knock at her door a second later, and Peter nodded towards the laptop, “Hand in your assignment?” She stared at him, the question of ‘how’ dying on her lips as Natasha’s voice came through the door.

She looked up at Peter, whispering, “How did you know?”

He smiled, “I’ll tell you about it later.” He pulled the door open, smiling, “Sorry, Nat, she needed help with a chemistry question.”

Natasha eyed the two of them for a moment, her eyes calculating before tossing her head towards the kitchen, “There’s something you guys need to see. Come on.” She turned away, already making her way back into the kitchen. Instantly Melanie shut her laptop, the serious tone in her aunt’s voice sending worry deep into the knot in her stomach. She tossed her laptop onto her bed as she stood up, sending a worried look to Peter.

She grabbed his hand, whispering, “We’ll talk later, okay?”

He nodded, squeezing her fingers for a second before he let go, “Promise.”

…

The news had the room reeling. There was too much happening. Too much was going on.

_This just in, Norman Osborn, the CEO and owner of Oscorp has gone missing. Osborn was sick, battling a disease without a known cure for the past two years that left him bedridden, after his release from jail. Earlier tonight when one of his nurses went in to check on Osborn, he was gone. There’s no evidence of a struggle, which leaves us with many questions._

Tony asked, his eyes firmly locked on the table, “What time was that at, FRI?”

FRIDAY’s voice filled the poignant silence of the room, “ _He was found missing after 7:00, but it was only brought to the police a few minutes ago.”_

Melanie asked next, “What time were we attacked at?”

_“7:30.”_

Natasha filled in the obvious, “That’s enough time to get from there to here.” She looked up at Tony, “What are the odds that something happens to the two biggest tech giants in New York, in the _same_ night?”

Tony shrugged, “I don’t know, neither of us are particularly liked if I’m being honest, so probably better than you think.” Pepper’s kick to his shin made him restate his answer. “Alright, so it’s targeted. Does that mean we assume that Osborn was kidnapped?” Everyone nodded around the table, and Tony turned to Melanie, “Were you seen? By any chance?”

“I don’t know, to be honest.” She looked up at Peter briefly before she turned to her dad, “I think Peter was blocking me for the most part.”

Tony dragged his hands down his face, sighing, “Okay.” He leaned on the table, “Anyone else find the past few weeks too weird?”

Steve leaned back, crossing his arms, “What do you mean, Tony?”

“First we have a Raft breakout, something that’s never happened before, and they used illusion tech to get the guy out. Now Osborn is off the grid, and no one knows how, and there are creepy shadow monsters attacking my tower. Weird, isn’t it?”

Sam asked, “You think it’s connected?”

Tony shrugged, “I mean I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“But what would a shadow monster want with Vulture, Osborn and you?” Melanie pointed out. “Tech? That’s the only thing you guys have in common. And how would a shadow monster shut down FRIDAY? She’s too advanced for human tech, and we have no knowledge of any alien species like that.”

“Doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t exist.” Natasha countered, leaning back in her chair, “We don’t know all that’s out there. But, we should take caution with this. Osborn’s missing, and Tony,” she stared at him pointedly, waiting for him to meet her gaze before she continued, “you look like the next target.”

Peter frowned, forcing himself to speak up. In any other situation, he’d never question Black Widow, he wouldn’t dream of it- but this was about Tony’s safety, and by extension, Melanie’s. “Then what about the new guy? The one no one has seen before? What’s his role in all this?”

“Maybe he comes from the same planet the shadow monster comes from. We need to get it a new name, by the way. Shadow monster doesn’t work, it sounds like it comes from a children’s book or something,” Tony shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose and slowly pushing his fingers apart.

Melanie smirked, “Would you rather we call it a shadow demon?”

“You know, that would be more accurate, I was kind of thinking shadow alien.”

Melanie bit back her grin at Pepper’s warning glare, settling back in her chair, “So now what? We can’t track it since it’s most likely dead, and FRIDAY couldn’t get a reading on it because she was down.”

“How did that happen?” Tony looked up at her, “I’m assuming you’re the one who ran the diagnostics.”

“Yeah. She saw a massive surge of energy, basically making her short-circuit, and then once the ‘shadow-demon-alien-thing’ died, and the guy left, the power surge died off and she came back online.”

“What time was that at?”

“Probably a few minutes before the demon-thing showed up.”

Clint asked, “So what, it jammed her signal or something?”

Bruce shook his head slowly, “Worse. How much energy pumps in and out of this building at all times? Tony, you’re running on renewable energy but you’ve got machines working around the clock on seventy different floors. For something to give FRIDAY a power-surge that she can’t handle, that had to be,” he finished his sentence with a hand gesture like an explosion.

Steve cut into the conversation, “So we err on the side of caution. Get in contact with everyone we know, see if they’ve ever heard of these things before and what we need to do to stop them.”

“And if no one has?” Natasha pointed out, “What do you want to do then?”

“Then we figure it out. And someone needs to find the guy who stopped him.”

“Great plan, honestly, other than a few minor details, but what about right now?” Tony asked, staring pointedly at Steve.

“Wait?” he suggested. Melanie was going to laugh, but it died in her throat as she realized that that was all they could do. They didn’t have any leads on the monster or the guy who stopped it, and with FRIDAY out of the mix, there was no way they’d be able to find him, at least right now.

“Well that sounds boring,” her dad’s dry tone brought her from her thoughts. He turned to her, “Want to get your birthday gift?”

“Wait, like now? Is it really, a good time?”

“Honestly, I can’t think of a better time than after an attack,” he pointed out lightly.

Melanie’s confused laugh was joined by Clint, “What did you get her, a gun?”

“Of sorts. Come on,” he stood up, gesturing over his shoulder to follow as he started down the hall.

“Wait, are you serious? Dad!” she got up, Pepper with her and they followed him down the hallway to the lab. She heard the chairs behind her start scraping along the floor, and the hallway was soon filled with echoing footsteps.

The lab doors peeled open and Tony walked into the middle of the room, arms out wide, “Alright FRI, it’s time. Please open project 17M.” The wall on the far side of the room spun around, revealing the three Ironman suits that were always there: Mark 42, Mark 7, and Mark 15.

But Mark 15 wasn’t there.

It was a different suit.

One she’d only seen in blueprint.

“No,” Melanie turned to her dad, shaking her head, “this can’t be real. Are you, are you serious?” She spun around to find Pepper, “Is that—"

“We found your blueprints. Great job on the programming by the way. Hope it fits alright, I mean it's nanotech so it will." He turned to face her, a smile instantly pulling at his lips as he watched her. One hand was locked over her mouth in shock as she whispered to herself in disbelief, slowly walking towards the suit. Tony walked forwards with her, and reached up onto the left gauntlet. He pressed a button, and the nanotech peeled away, disappearing into two silver bracelets, "These are your housing units. Can be worn with anything." He picked them up off the model and held them out to her, "Want to try it on?"

Her eyes looked ready to bulge out of her head as she carefully slipped the bracelets around her wrists. She stared at her dad, mumbling, "Thank you, oh my god, this is insane."

He stepped back, grinning, "Just tap them together, like this." He lifted his hands, crossing his wrists in an X shape, and brought them together. Melanie hesitantly lifted her hands, glancing back at the Avengers who were watching, all of them with slight smiles on their faces. She made eye contact with Pepper and waited. She had to know, was it actually the two of them going in on the gift, or was it another ' _your father is too stubborn for me to change his mind',_ situation _._ But Pepper gave her a nod and a proud smile, and Melanie tapped her wrists together.

Instantly, the cool metal nanites poured across her arms and hands, spreading up to her shoulders in a waterfall of Ironman red and silver. The metal solidified around her body, covering her all the way down her legs. The suit went up her neck next, the helmet forming around her head and snapping into place. The display lit up and Melanie slowly lifted her hands into sight. Red covered most of tops forearm and hands, but the underside was silver, the exact way she and Peter had designed it. She turned to her dad, the nanotech retracting into her neck, so he could see her smile, "Thank you."

Pepper approached, smiling at Melanie as she stood next to Tony, "Now this is a step, yes, but you're not going to be fighting aliens anytime soon, okay? I want that to be clear."

Tony added, "This is so that you can practice, you know? So one day, when you're out to the world, you can take on this part of the job."

Melanie nodded, looking down at herself in awe. _She had an_ Ironman _suit._ She tore her eyes off the suit, and looked back up at her parents, "I won't let you guys down."

Pepper smiled at her, tears in her eyes, "We know."

Peter stood with the Avengers, and had to force his jaw not to drop as he saw Melanie standing in the suit. Sure, he'd designed it with her, but he never actually thought of it on her. And _wow_ , she looked _really_ good. He wasn't a big fan of using the word 'hot' to describe girls, but he couldn't think of a better one, especially with how much his mind was blanking. So he ignored his racing heart, instead smiling along with the others beside him, laughing to himself at the thought that followed:

_Being a superhero, crushing on a superhero. Fitting._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I the only one who wants these two to get together already???  
> Because I think I'm gonna lose it if they don't get together soon LOL  
> Anyways, so YAY, Peter isn't keeping a secret from Melanie anymore!!  
> And double YAY, Mel's got a suit!!!  
> And not so YAY, they don't know what's happening with Mysterio... the real question,  
> do I know what's happening next?? NOPE.  
> Will I figure it out? YEP.  
> Thank you for reading, see you next time,  
> P.S. This was the inspiration for Mel's suit  
> https://i.pinimg.com/236x/74/bc/fd/74bcfdbb8e4032c608369d5f76a109b4.jpg  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	12. You With Me, Parker?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!!  
> Y'all, we're almost at 4000 hits.... that is CRAZY  
> LIKE WHAT?? Thank you guys so much, this has gone so much better than I could have ever expected  
> Anyways, this chapter is a little different from the past few, but I'm actually pretty happy with it. This one is all about support and it kind of made my heart break... but in a good way <3<3<3  
> This is a little shorter than my other ones, but I felt like if I kept going everything would just become all muddled, so a bit shorter, but I think it's worth it. As always, thank you so much for your support, comments make my day, kudos and hits are always appreciated  
> Onto the chapter!!

Within ten minutes of the gift being given, Melanie was in the gym along side her dad, learning how to fly. The Avengers watched from below, smiling at the extremely shaky, albeit excited, smaller Ironman. She was doing better than Tony had thought, but then again, he was constantly surprised by Melanie in her abilities.

Tony called through the comms, “Alright, now engage thrusters, slowly.”

“Slowly, okay,” she whispered. She felt the power growing under her hands and feet, slowly taking off from the ground, hovering in the air for a moment.

She could hear the grin in her dad’s voice, “Alright, you gotta lean into it now, and you’re gonna just go around the edge of the room. Just make one lap.”

She gave herself a pep talk, “Okay, one lap. We got it.” She leaned forwards, putting a little more power into the thrusters, and she was off. The suit reacted intuitively, letting her hug the curves of the room, the cheering of her family on the sidelines helping her go a little faster.

Tony’s voice echoed inside her mask, “Alright, bring it back in.”

She straightened out, her arms a little shaky in slowing down and hovered in the air for a moment before she dropped back down. The mask peeled away, and she stared at her dad, beaming. “Wow,” she whispered. She laughed, “That was insane!”

Laughter from her dad echoed her own as she marvelled at the suit once again. Natasha smiled at her, pride in her eyes, “You look good, Kid.”

She grinned, “Thanks Nat.”

At once, all but two phones went off, sending a chorus of groans around the room. Tony dragged his hands down his face, “How did he get all of our personal contacts? Really? When did that happen?”

Pepper sighed, rubbing Tony’s back, “You all know what that means. Ross is going to have a fit if we don’t show up soon.”

“What if we told him that I died in the attack, and you all need to take a leave of absence from his meetings? You know, to grovel in your despair at my death.” He turned to Pepper with a smile, “It wouldn’t be the first time I was considered dead.”

Pepper’s deadpan look made Tony nod, “Yep, okay. No more death jokes.”

The Avengers grumbled about it for a minute, but Pepper and Natasha managed to push the guys towards the exit. Tony turned around, sparing a glance at Melanie and Peter, “You two are going to be okay?”

“Yeah, gonna get a bit more practice in,” she grinned, firing up her thrusters for a moment. Tony laughed, a genuine smile on his face as he gave her a nod. The adults disappeared down the hallway, the doors sealing shut behind them, and Peter smiled at her.

“The suit looks really good.”

She looked down, a blush fighting its way onto her cheeks, “Thank you. So,” she crossed her arms, shifting her weight to her one leg, “Spiderman.” Peter grinned a little, shaking his head, “What can you do?”

He laughed, “Uh, a lot, I guess. But if they—”

“FRI, let us know when the meeting is over?” she smiled knowingly, laughing at his mildly impressed look. FRIDAY agreed instantly, and Melanie looked at Peter, “I have a question.” He nodded, gesturing her to keep going, “How do you do it? I know the swinging and stuff, that’s the webshooters, but the rest of it, like holding together a Ferry, singlehandedly.”

“Wait, you know about that?” he asked, the remnants of guilt stirring in his stomach. That was definitely not his proudest moment.

She nodded obviously, her tone of sarcasm almost matching Tony’s perfectly, “Yeah, my dad was there, so I kinda heard about it. Plus news channels were covering it, but you know, besides the point.”

“Right,” he laughed. “Well, I got bit by a Spider, on a field trip? And uh, woke up like this.” He gestured to himself, not failing to notice Melanie’s look of disbelief.

“A spider bite? Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “I mean, I woke up the next day with super strength, and hyperactive senses.” He groaned, “That sucked the first few days.”

Melanie gave him a confused look, and Peter realized that he’d actually have to explain everything because no one knew. He was so secret about his identity, that no one understood his powers and how he did what he did. He’d be able to get it off his chest.

Melanie might even be able to help him.

Sensory overload didn’t happen very often, but when it did, it sucked. So he explained how his senses went haywire, how the suit worked, how he dodged bullets, everything. Melanie nodded along slowly, “What senses get most effected on those days?”

“Definitely my hearing.” He shook his head, “When I’m walking through the halls at school I can hear every conversation, every person laughing. I can hear music from their headphones,” he groaned. “It’s not fun.”

She nodded thoughtfully, her gaze lowered to the ground, her mind far off as she spoke, “I’ll see if I can work on something for that. Almost like a muffler for your senses, but hearing specifically.” Peter could practically see the ideas swirling around in her head, and it made him smile. She gave herself a firm nod and tore her eyes from the ground, back up at Peter, “Okay, so that’s the technical side of it. You said you got super strength, right? What’s the heaviest thing you’ve lifted?”

“Oh, uh,” instantly his mind flashed to the ferry incident. His arms had felt like they were going to rip out of their sockets as he’d held onto the web, desperately trying to keep the boat together.

But then another scene took over. It was the one that made his legs shake, and slowly lean back against the bench for support as he said it, “I lifted a building, this one time.”

“What? A whole building?”

“Well more the rubble, of a building.” He cleared his throat, “It was with Toomes, right?” She nodded earnestly, waiting for him to keep going. “Well, I caught him, at this abandoned warehouse, and he sent his wing suit around. I dodged it a bunch, thought I was good,” his voice trembled as the memories rushed in.

_The pillars collapsing, the roof crashing in on itself, coming down on Peter. The last thing he saw was Toomes’ smile._

_Then it was water pouring down on him from the broken pipes, waterlogging his mask and making him unable to breathe._

_The stone slabs pinning him down, his chest heaving in his desperate attempts for air, ribs breaking under the pressure._

_Him ripping off the mask, air finally filling his lungs._

_His desperate screams for help, for someone to come find him, because he was_ just _a kid._

_Because in that moment he wasn’t Spiderman, he was just a kid in a sweatsuit, dying._

Peter had thought that that was the end. That no one was going to find him, and that would be his final moment.

“Peter?” Melanie’s voice broke through the haze of memories, and he was brought back to the present, her hand cupping the side of his face, her eyes searching his, terrified, “Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s over.”

She knew a flashback when she saw one; her dad alone had enough PTSD to go around, but she knew for a fact each of the heroes had it in some way. Peter was no exception.

He realized just how badly he was shaking then, his hand grabbing Melanie’s arm tightly, and he loosened his grip, not wanting to hurt her. In the back of his mind, he noticed that her suit was gone, and he gripped the sleeve of her crewneck in his fist.

He made himself keep going, his chest on fire with every breath he forced in and out, but he needed to say it. “It broke the supports in the building, and he just let it crush me.” He could feel the weight of the pillars crashing across his back, dragging him down and pushing the air out of his lungs. His body erupted into cold sweat as he tried to fight back the darkness creeping into his vision.

The weight of the collapsed roof on his back was real, and his knees gave out, sending him to the floor, but something was holding him up. Something was holding onto him and wouldn’t let go.

Tears burned the back of Melanie’s eyes, wanting nothing more than to just hug him and tell him that it was okay, but at the moment she was more focused on keeping him standing, “Peter, stay with me, okay, you’re not there. It’s over, and you’re safe.” Her stomach dropped when she saw Peter’s vacant eyes, lost somewhere else.

The words forced their way through the storm of Peter’s brain, pushing the pillars off his back and letting him breathe, air slipping past his lips in a gasp. Then there were more words, “Hey, I’m here, you’re not alone.” Each one wedged itself under the stone pillars, forcing them back and taking the weight off of Peter until he was able to get his feet under him. He listened to the words, letting them take the pain away, focusing on them to push away the darkness of the warehouse. “That’s it, you’re okay. You don’t have to keep going, alright? I understand.”

She lifted his chin, staring into his eyes, waiting for them to come back, his brown, warm doe eyes; for Peter to come back to her. He blinked slowly, every time his eyes clearing just slightly. He closed his eyes, breathing in slowly, and when he opened them, he was back.

Relief flooded through Melanie’s veins, “Peter, oh my god.”

She tugged him forward, throwing her arms around his neck and hugged him fiercely. His hands wrapped around her waist tightly, and he tried to fight back the rushing images. He pressed his face against her shoulder, breathing in the summery scent that was Melanie, letting it fill him up.

He felt her hands on his back, soothingly running her thumb back and forth and let himself focus on that, the memories of that night slowly dying off. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” she whispered, over and over, her words slowly breaking through the barriers in his mind until the pillars were gone, and he was back in the gym.

His chest felt a little lighter, his shaking slowed to a tremble, and his tears dried on his cheeks. She felt him relax in her arms, the muscles in his back slowly losing tension and she let out a sigh of relief, a few tears leaking out the corner of her eyes. “You’re okay, it’s over. You stopped him, and you got out, okay?”

He nodded, and she hesitantly removed her hands, stepping back enough to look at his face, “You with me, Parker?”

He nodded, a hand coming up to instantly wipe the tear tracks on his cheeks, “Yeah, I’m good. I’m sorry—”

“No, it’s okay, you don’t have to apologize.” She assured him quietly, “Believe me, it happens to the best.”

He stepped away from her, shaking his head, his chest rising and falling too fast. “I didn’t think it still messed me up that bad. I thought I was,” he stopped short, but Melanie knew the word that was coming.

_There._

“For a second, I did too,” she sighed. She sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall and gestured next to her, waiting for Peter who was still visibly shaken. He did, letting out a shaky sigh as he leaned back. Their shoulders brushed together, and Emmy grabbed his hand, her only intention this time to ground him. “Ready for some quick grounding methods? Can you tell me five things you know?”

“What?” he turned to her, his eyes bloodshot from holding in his tears.

“Five things you know. Can be anything,” she smiled easily, giving his hand a squeeze.

“Um, I don’t know—”

“Come on, just five random science facts. Anything. What do you know about me, my dad?”

He slowed his breathing down, trying to think through the answer, “Mr. Stark is Ironman, there’s 118 elements on the periodic table. Francium is the rarest element on earth. You’re Mr. Stark’s daughter,” he took a deep breath, his speech slowing slightly, “And your favourite song, is _Fishing in the Dark._ ”

She smiled, her heart fluttering just a little at the fact that he remembered, “Yes, it is. That’s good, okay, so now, how about four things you can see?”

He took another deep breath, dropping his head against the wall, “Uh, the floor, the wall, the, paintball arena, and” he scanned the room briefly. “The changerooms.”

“Great, three things you can feel?” she smiled encouragingly.

“Uh, the ground, you,” he squeezed her hand as if to prove it. He brushed his fingers over her sweater, “your sweater.”

“Perfect, two things you can hear?”

He had to really focus on that one. He had to slow his breathing, keeping his heart at a low thud so he could hear. A soft whirring filled his ears. “The fans,” he smiled a little. “Your breathing.”

She gave him a confused look because she _really_ wasn’t breathing all that loud. _She_ couldn’t even hear it. Peter pointed to his ears obviously, making Melanie laugh, “Right, super senses. Okay, and one thing you can smell.”

He took a deep breath in through his nose and let it out slowly, relaxing against the wall with the exhale, “Your perfume.” He closed his eyes, welcoming the calm that ran over him. He leaned against the wall, happy to let it take his weight. In fact, he felt lighter than he'd been in a long time.

She let out a sigh of relief beside him watching him just relax, the crease lines in his forehead smoothing out, his breathing slowing to a normal pace, “That’s good Peter, really good. How you feeling?”

“Better actually,” he turned to her, “Where’d you learn that?”

She shrugged, “My dad suffers from PTSD, and the rest of my family deal with trauma in some way or the other, so I’ve picked up on a few different techniques.”

Peter gave her a weak smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “Thanks.” His smile fell away to a frown, “I didn’t know he’d still mess me up that bad. I guess I just try to avoid thinking about it.”

“That’s typically how it goes.” She squeezed his hand, “But it does get better with time, and help.” She rested their intertwined hands on her bent knee. “You okay though? I know they’re pretty exhausting.”

He shrugged, “Nah, I’m fine.” He closed his eyes, sighing, “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to ruin this—”

“Hey, hey, you didn’t ruin anything,” she assured instantly.

“No, it’s your birthday and you just got a suit and you were so excited and then I—”

“Peter.” She grabbed his face, turning him towards her, “You didn’t ruin anything, okay? You’re good, we’re good, I promise.” He gave her a look that clearly read, 'I don't believe you'. She stood and pulled him onto his feet with a firm tug on his arm. He sighed as he got up, and she placed her hand against his cheek, “Believe me?”

“Not really,” he grinned a little.

She laughed, welcoming the warm feeling in her chest, “Well at least you’re honest.” She nodded towards the door, "Come on."

"What, where are we going?"

"To the lab. I have an idea to help you with those sensory overload days." She gave him an easy smile that made Peter's heart jump start. Peter had never been more thankful than in that moment. How she knew to change the subject, get away from the room.

He tugged on her hand, causing her to spin towards him. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. I get it." As she started leading them down the hallway, he found himself smiling.

Melanie was like swinging through New York, the feeling of free falling right before he caught himself. She was the time of day where the sun streamed through his window and left rainbows across his bedroom walls. Melanie lived like lightening; she lit the world up when she smiled and left a mark on everything she touched. She crackled with an energy that left everyone mesmerized.

And Peter was one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter Parker needs a hug, and YAY, he got one!!!  
> This chapter hurt to write, and I had no idea where it was going until I was halfway through his flashback and I was like, "okay, guess we're writing this."  
> Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think!!  
> Until next time,  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	13. What Happened to Keeping a Secret?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers!!  
> I AM SO SORRY THAT THIS IS LATE  
> So I wrote this and it took the story in a completely different direction than I had originally planned, so I'm kind of stressing over it, but it'll be fine, right? I just gotta plan this entirely new plotline out *laughs nervously*  
> Anyways, y'all 4500 hits??? My heart was so full when I was replying to all the comments, I don't think you realize how happy they make me.  
> Thank you so much for all the love and support, and now onto the chapter!!!

May Parker paced back and forth in front of the table, shaking her head, “I’m sorry, I just, run it by me one more time? You want your _secret lovechild_ , to come live with me so that she’s safe?”

Tony nodded, “That about sums it up, although I personally wouldn’t use the word lovechild—”

“Well you didn’t marry her mother,” May cut him off easily. She dragged her hand through her hair, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible, “Does she not have a mother she can go to? Do you even _know_ her?”

Natasha laughed, and May turned to her, suddenly flustered, “Wait, is she, is she _your_ kid? That’s why you’re here, I’m sorry I—”

Nat shook her head, assuring her, “No, she’s not, I'm laughing at your assumption about Tony." She smiled, "She’s family, but she isn’t my kid. Her mom isn’t in the picture, and when she is, she’s on drugs, so we can’t send her there.” She crossed her arms, “We just need a place where she can lay low until all of this is over. It might be a week or it could be a few.”

May turned to Tony, and for the first time that evening her voice came out as calm as she wanted, “And you want it to be me?”

Tony answered with his typical sarcasm, “I don’t want it to happen at all.” Natasha and Pepper’s matching glares made him sigh, “You understand the whole 'identity has to be kept secret' thing. And since she and Peter are _friends_ ,” he glared at the grin Natasha wasn’t bothering to hide. “It makes the most sense. And if school is going to be a _thing_ that is happening, her staying with Peter checks out.”

“Tony, I’ve got a two bedroom apartment, and I barely make enough to cover the two of us.” May’s constant night shifts and long work hours had gotten her and Peter by, but things were always tough. With a kid who ate twice what he used to and being the only source of income, it was hard.

Pepper nodded, “We understand that this is a massive decision. All expenses that relate to Mel would be covered by us. We’ll cover rent, everything. And it is hopefully just a short term situation.”

May pressed her lips together, letting out a deep breath, “Have you run this by Peter? Because I don’t know how he’d feel about the whole situation.” She looked up, her eyes meeting Pepper’s as she ran through what Pepper said. Her jaw suddenly dropped, “Did you say _Mel_?” The three in the room nodded, and May felt an ill timed laugh bubble up in her chest, “Mel, as in Melanie the _intern at Stark Industries_? As in the girl Peter doesn’t stop talking about?”

Pepper and Natasha shared a smile, at the same time Tony snapped, “Peter _talks_ about her? Jesus, what happened to keeping a secret?”

May rolled her eyes, “He only _told_ me because I was yelling at her on the phone because I thought it was you. He never mentioned a Melanie before that, and then afterwards I had questions and he gave me answers. He conveniently left out the part about her being a Stark.”

**... 2 Hours Earlier ...  
**

Melanie pulled up the blueprint the projection becoming three dimensional in front of them and spun it around with a shrug, “Should be relatively discreet when you’re wearing them, and easily concealed in any small container, like Altoids or something for when you’re not.”

“Normally Ned just gives me his earbuds to use, and it helps, except my teachers always make me take them out. If I can get away with wearing them all day, that would be great.” He leaned on the table and she was able to see him through the blue projection. His eyes weren’t red anymore, his smile was no longer forced; he looked like Peter again.

She smiled, “Well, the only way for someone to see them is if they were just staring at you for an abnormal amount of time.” She swiped the image away, smirking at Peter from across the table.

He laughed, “And that doesn’t happen, so I think I’ll be fine.”

“What, you’re not the popular jock that every girl ogles?” she joked, closing her notebook. She tossed it into the drawer and glanced up, catching him staring at her with a confused look. “What?”

“You think I would be the popular jock?” he cocked his head to the side, his brow furrowed. Peter knew for a fact that no one at his school would call him that; he was everything opposite of that.

Melanie’s mock look of confusion matched his. “I mean, you are slightly more muscular than the typical teen, and you’re pretty confident most of the time, kind of gives off the popular jock vibe,” she smiled, raising her eyebrows at him.

He laughed, shaking his head, “Wait until you’re at school with me. Then you’ll see that I am _not_ that.”

Melanie shrugged as she walked around to his side of the table, “Not a bad thing. I’m guessing that no one really knows _this_ side of you then? You know, the whole super strength side, because I feel like that might be a selling point for popularity.”

He shook his head, “Not when I was barely able to run down the hall without having an asthma attack before the spiderbite,” he smiled. She looked at him like he was a kicked puppy, making him laugh, “Like, I’d love to play football, but I couldn’t then, so I shouldn’t now, so I kind of just stay the nerd version of Peter Parker.”

She bumped his shoulder with her own, “Well, I still like that version of him, but I am glad I got to know this version.” They stood in a comfortable silence for a moment and she leaned back against the desk, her smile fading. She looked over at him, noticing his determined stare towards the floor and she asked softly, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he nodded firmly, his eyes dashing up to hers to flash a smile. “I’m good.” The smile was a just slightly wobbly, and not quite as big as they normally were, but it was genuine; still a Peter Parker smile. And that was enough for her.

She grabbed his hand, not failing to notice how perfectly his hand curled around hers without hesitation, and she nodded, “I’m glad. I’m good too.” She pushed off the desk, tugging on his arm, her voice firm, “Okay, Parker, come on.”

He let her drag him from the desk, his eyebrows drawn together in confusion, “Where are we going?”

“Well, I sent off the blueprints, Dum-E is going to put it together for us and now we have free time. And, I just found out you’re Spiderman, I have a flying suit, and the ceiling in the gym is pretty high,” her suggestive tone had Peter laughing as he followed her. “See where I’m going with this?”

He did. He could feel her excitement, noticed the slight skip in her step as they walked into the gym and he found himself smiling. Her energy was contagious. She pointed up to the rafters, “Think you can swing off those?”

Peter nodded, crossing his wrists and holding them together, the webshooters springing to life with a metallic click. He glanced at the doors behind him, “FRIDAY is still gonna remind us when they’re out of the meeting?”

Melanie nodded, “Yeah, you’re good.” She stepped back, giving him room as he shook out his arms. He looked over his shoulder at her and flashed a smile before he threw his arm out, his fingers striking the center of his webshooter. The web shot forwards towards the ceiling rafter, and he jumped. He swung forwards, releasing the web and let himself flip once before he slung another web.

Melanie watched from the ground, frozen in her spot. He looked so free and happy when he was swinging through the air, doing flips. She watched in amazement as he grabbed one of the rafters and pulled himself up with ease, the smile never leaving his face. He glanced down at her, “You coming up?”

His smile was wide, his hair slightly on the wilder side, and she found herself falling for him all over again. Peter was all or nothing, all the time. In every emotion, Peter was all in. Happy or sad, he felt it 100%. But he carried such a positive energy after everything; the world had tried to beat him down but he got back up and smiled through it all.

He chose to put his life on hold at 15 and become a hero who helped people. He was kind, and selfless, humble and just _purely good_. He was like dancing in the rain. Even if the storm was bad, Peter would be the one to keep going, smile and all. His silent strength was something Melanie admired, and she felt lucky being able to see him like this; when he was himself, living in the moment.

He gave her a confused look, drawing her from her thoughts, “What?” He still had that smile, the one that sent butterflies to Melanie’s stomach and made it hard for her to concentrate.

She shook her head and smiled, “Nothing.” She tapped her bracelets together, letting the nanites pour across her arms, and once the suit built itself around her, somehow warm despite being metal, she turned on the thrusters, shakily sending herself into the air. She felt a grin spread across her lips and found herself laughing.

Inside her mask, FRIDAY spoke, “ _Your dopamine and oxytocin levels are rising. You are experiencing high levels of happiness.”_

As she came up to the rafter where Peter was waiting, she whispered to herself, “Sounds right.”

**...**

The meeting came to a close within the next half hour. Ross wanted more answers, but the Avengers couldn’t give them; they had no idea who the guy was, what the monster was, if there were more. Every question lead to five more questions that they couldn’t figure out.

After Ross had circled back to the same question for the fourth time, Tony hung up. No one argued with it; Steve just sighed with a look of discontent and Rhodey gave him an approving nod. Natasha leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, “So, what are you gonna do?”

Tony glanced up, noticing that Nat’s question and pointed stare was directed at him. “About what? The monster? I think we’ve gone over it a few times now that we don’t know—"

She cut him off, “With Mel. You still gonna let her go to school after all this?” The question sent a stab of dread through Tony’s stomach. He’d been wondering the same thing. Was it safe for her to be out in the city, unprotected?

Pepper answered for him, “I don’t think we can stop her. We already agreed to it, and she is dead set on that school. After sixteen years of living in secret, we can’t not let her go out, make friends.” She looked over at Tony, waiting to see his reaction.

“But if this was a targeted attack,” Clint spoke up. “You really want to risk having Melanie out there without people around to protect her?” Tony nodded slightly, agreeing with Clint. He valued his opinion here more than most. Clint was the only other one with children, he knew what it was like.

Bruce pointed out, “Not necessarily. She’s got a suit and she knows how to use it. If someone was to go after her, and that’s a pretty big if, she would still be protected.”

Natasha didn’t let her shock show, instead turning it into a glare, “So you want to put her in a position where she has to potentially use her suit, telling the world who she is?”

“Think about it. If this was targeted, then they’re going to keep coming here. They’re going to expect everyone that _you_ care about Tony, to be here. If Mel is out there, in Midtown, they’ll never guess to look there. And the only way they’d find out who she is is if they see her here or she shows her identity at school, which she won’t.”

Pepper nodded slowly, “She _would_ be safer away from us.”

“So what, I send her to school and then she comes back here anyways,” Tony shrugged. “Then what?” Tony didn’t like this. He didn’t like the idea of Melanie being safer away from him. Every single thing he did was meant to keep her safe, and he could do that best if she was close by.

Natasha shrugged, “She could move out for a bit.” Tony’s head snapped towards Natasha in shock, his eyes wide and waiting for her to finish the joke. Instead, she kept her face neutral and her voice low, “Look, until we figure out what happened tonight, this tower isn’t the safest place. If she was out of the tower and somewhere else, no one would have a chance of finding her.”

“I’m not kicking my daughter out of my house at 16,” he announced. “Not happening.” He glanced at each Avenger in turn, daring them to go against him. The person who did, was not the one he expected.

Pepper corrected him quietly, “She’s 17, Tony.” Her hand found his, and she waited for him to look at her. When he did, she spoke as gently as she could not wanting to add to the already betrayed look in his eyes, “She could still come by the tower, she just wouldn’t stay here. Almost like an internship. And you wouldn’t be kicking her out, you’d be keeping her safe.”

Tony’s eyes could only get so wide, “ _You’re_ on board with this? You _want_ Mel out of the tower?” It felt like someone was squeezing his heart as he looked around the table, noticing everyone’s solemn nods. How could they possibly think Mel was safer without them?

“Of course I don’t want her out of the tower, but I _want_ her safe. Send her off with the suit, the panic switch, trackers in everything, call her five times a day if you want to, but this tower is a target, a massive one at that and if she’s staying here it puts her in more danger.”

Tony dragged his hand down his face, “So let’s say that I agree to Melanie moving out, which I _don’t_ , where would she go? I’m gonna buy her an apartment?” Natasha opened her mouth, but quickly closed it. Tony watched her internal debate and bit the bullet, asking, “What are you gonna say?”

Natasha sighed, "You're not gonna want to hear it." He gave her a look that read, _'try me_ '. She shrugged, “Well, she could stay with Peter.”

Tony’s violent reaction had Pepper concealing her laugh with her hand. It was like he was shocked by electricity he jumped so hard. His voice sounded more pitchy than he’d preferred as he countered, “You want me to let my daughter move in with a teenage boy?”

“Isn’t he in Queens?” Natasha countered. “She’d be far enough from here—”

“Wait, Peter’s from Queens?” Steve asked. He turned to Tony, and Tony instantly looked away. He did _not_ need Steve figuring that out right now and he could practically see him putting the pieces together. One problem at a time.

Tony gestured for Natasha to keep going, skipping over the question entirely. Natasha rolled right over Steve’s question with ease, “They’d both be going to the same school. Isn’t Peter buddying around with Spiderman?” Tony nodded half-heartedly, hating Natasha’s ironclad logic and avoiding Steve's piercing gaze. She gave a hand gesture that could only be read as ‘ _there you go’_ , “Extra protection and another set of eyes to be watching her. And this way, she’s not alone, she’s got her friend—”

“Yeah, _friend_ ,” Clint snorted. Sam started laughing beside him, but both were silenced with death glares from Tony and Natasha.

“ _Either way,_ ” she glared at the boys still laughing at the end of the table, “it makes the most sense. They could both come to the labs just like Peter does now. And it’s just until we figure this out. Or we know that there aren’t going to be any more attacks.”

“So Mel, would be an intern, and live with _Peter_ ,” he spoke slowly, hoping that everyone around him would hear it the way he did. Instead, he received a series of nods made that made him groan and pinch the bridge of his nose, “Pepper, tell me that you think this idea is idiotic and wrong and we’re not gonna do it.”

Pepper smiled, running her thumb back and forth across the back of his hand, “Tony,” she waited for him to look at her. She gave him her gentlest smile, “She’s your daughter. It is your choice, we’re just giving you different perspectives, okay? You don’t have to make a decision now—”

“But sooner would be better than later,” Natasha added unhelpfully.

Tony tried weakly, “What if May says no, then where does she go?”

“May Parker would not say no. Especially if you explain it to her. She understands what it’s like,” Pepper reasoned with ease. Tony was genuinely starting to dislike how logical Pepper was being. Of course May wouldn’t say no, she knew how important secret identities were.

He sighed, “FRIDAY, send a message to May Parker.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah... that happened and I have no idea where this is going to go now.  
> Will she move in? I don't know  
> Will her and Peter share a room because it's a two bedroom apartment? I don't know  
> ALSO IMPORTANT POLL  
> I JUST realized that I set this story up to have a Christmas chapter, but I haven't mentioned Christmas at all (maybe once)... so do we want a Christmas chapter? Or is it going to be too random?  
> I love you all 3000  
> Thank you for reading, every comment, kudos, and hit warms my heart <3<3  
> Until next time,  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	14. This is Gonna be Good, Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Readers!!  
> I'm so sorry that this is late :( Currently trying to rework this story with the new plotline and it is taking some time  
> ANYWAYS  
> 5000 HITS??? WHAT  
> Thank you so much, omg y'all, I freaked out when I saw that!!   
> The comments are making my day, and I love and appreciate every single one of them!!  
> This chapter is a little different, more of the switching perspectives, but after this, the chapters should be much more centered since you know... they're casually gonna move in together  
> Onto the chapter!!

“Wait, you want me to _what_?” Melanie asked, trying to think through the situation for the umpteenth time. Move out? And live with Peter Parker? She wouldn’t deny that the second part didn’t sound so bad, but the first… that just sounded _wrong_.

Peter and Melanie had ended their gym session once FRIDAY alerted them of the conclusion of the meeting. After that, things had gotten really strange, really fast. May Parker had shown up, a young, petite woman with long brown hair and an effortless kind of beauty. As soon as the elevator doors opened, Melanie had thrown herself behind the nearest wall, nearly tripping over Peter as she moved out of sight. Peter had leaned against the wall completely non-casually to keep her from view and gave his aunt an overly pitchy, ‘hey.’

Then May went into a meeting with Tony, Pepper and Nat, and Melanie and Peter were left beyond confused. Peter had tried to figure out what May was doing there, but she seemed to be just as clueless as they were. 

An hour or so later, Peter and Melanie were called into the meeting. And that was when things had become even stranger. Her dad sighed, “It’s just a safety precaution. We don’t know why that thing attacked and if it comes back, I’m not putting you at risk.”

Melanie dragged her hands through her hair, “You really think I’m going to be safer there, than here? With you?” She turned to Natasha, “What about you, are you on board with this too?”

“Actually, I was the one who suggested it.” Natasha gave Melanie a half smile, “Just think it through. If the thing that came here was after Tony, then you would be a perfect target. And they would only find you if you were _here_. The easiest way to get to any person is to go after those they care about, and you’re at the top of that list. If you’re here on a strict internship only basis, there’s less of a chance they’d find you.”

Melanie stared at her, trying to come up with something to say, something to go against Natasha’s reasoning, but she couldn’t even put her thoughts into words, much less come up with a legitimate reason. She finally settled on a sarcastic, “Alright, so _you_ planned your arguments in advance.” Natasha just gave her a smile.

Peter spoke timidly from his spot at the table beside her, “I’m okay with it.”

She spun around in her chair, her eyes almost bulging out of her head, “What?” May sent her nephew a look, but it wasn’t surprised. It was a look of understanding. If there was one thing she loved about Peter, it was how much he cared about other people, so there was no doubt in her mind that he would agree.

“It makes sense.” He looked to Melanie, “The best way to get to someone is by the people they care about, right?” Melanie nodded, and Peter kept going, “If you’re here, and I mean staying here, sleeping here; if someone was to attack, they’d find you. Even if they don’t realize you’re his daughter, they’ll put two and two together that you mean something to him.”

“You’re not wrong,” she said slowly and unwillingly, hating that she already knew what she was going to do. She glanced up at her dad, “It’s just temporary?” There was a lot more behind the question, and Tony knew it. Her life had been uprooted more than once, and she was tried of it. The original plan had been to go back to her mother when she’d gone clean. Things hadn’t worked out the way they planned, and although they did work out for the better, Melanie didn’t need a repeat.

Tony nodded firmly, backed by Pepper and Natasha, “Just until we figure this out. Could be a few weeks, could be a few days.”

Pepper added, her voice low and soothing to Melanie’s ears, “And you would still be coming by, almost every day. And once you’re in school you’ll be so busy that you won’t even miss us.” Melanie knew the intention of the joke, but it just reminded her of how suddenly she would be away from home.

Melanie turned to May Parker, her eyes slowly shifting between her and Peter, “And you guys are okay with it?” If there was one thing that Melanie hated, it was being a burden on people.

May leaned against the table, giving Melanie a small smile, “It will take some adjusting, and it might be a tight fit, but I’m sure we can make it work.” She gestured over at Tony, “I know that Tony would do the same for Peter if I asked.” She glanced at her curly haired nephew sitting next to Melanie, “Pete?”

He nodded instantly, his gaze locked with Melanie’s, “Yeah.” But there was something in his eyes, almost like he was telling her, ‘I’m game if you are’. He was giving the final decision to her. His hand found hers underneath the table, his fingers hesitantly interlocking with hers, giving her the slightest of nods.

Melanie gave his hand a squeeze, smiling at him before she glanced at her dad, “Alright, I’ll do it.”

After the final meeting of the night, everyone finally got to go to bed at a startling two in the morning. Peter and May had left, heading back to their apartment to make sure it was move-in ready for after Christmas. Peter had wished her one final happy birthday, giving her a quick hug that made both their ears burn. Melanie had promptly ignored Tony, Pepper and Natasha’s very obvious looks, excusing herself to go to bed. 

The holidays passed as they usually did in the tower. Clint and Sam went home to their families, Steve and Tony argued over which Christmas carols to play, and Natasha, Pepper and Melanie just watched them in amusement. They made Christmas cookies in the kitchen and stayed up until midnight before opening their presents.

And just like that, Christmas had came and went for another year.

And just like that, Melanie was moving.

That was how fast it was happening. The thought kept her awake, tossing and turning for the next few hours, until the sun started to stream into her room. She groaned, giving into the idea that she wouldn’t be getting any sleep, and got out of bed. Her bedside clock read 5:46.

She quickly got dressed, one destination in mind. The gym. Her brain wouldn’t shut up, and she desperately needed to clear her head. As taught by her aunt, there was no better way than throwing herself into a workout. She grabbed her running shoes and earbuds and made her way down to the gym in the darkness of the early morning.

She got into the elevator, the silence of the building only interrupted by the smooth whir of the elevator dropping past floors. The doors peeled apart, and she walked into the hallway, glancing around into the darkness. She pressed the door to the gym open with her back, scrolling through the music on her phone, listening to the satisfying quiet of the room.

She turned the lights on above the track and slid her earbuds into place, letting her music break up the silence. She stretched, and then she just started running. Running was the easiest way to clear her mind. The lab was another go to, but it wasn’t the safest choice considering she was tired. Unfortunately, small mistakes in the lab at Avengers Tower weren’t ever _small_.

So that left her with the gym.

She kept up with her laps, keeping at an even jog, but her brain was still going. She was still thinking about moving out. Leaving. Every step she took, she was thinking about packing her things up into boxes, saying goodbye.

She needed nothingness. She needed her brain to go quiet, or something else to be louder.

So she upped the volume of her music, and started running, as fast as she could for as long as she could. She ran, forcing her mind blank, listening to the beat of the song, letting the music take over. The music pierced her eardrums, but she couldn’t hear her thoughts anymore, so it was worth it.

She sprinted down the straight of the track, pumping her arms at her sides as fast as she could, trying to go faster. Each step sent tremors up her legs.

The song came to an end, the high intensity tune cutting off abruptly, letting her hear her own gasping breaths. As the words to the song ended, she was sucked back to reality. Her chest felt like it was on fire and her legs shut down, giving out under her, and sending her to her knees on the track. She pulled her earbuds out, gasping for breath and cursing at the pain in her side, in her chest. Her legs felt like cement, and her arms were next.

Someone’s hand was on her back, “Just breathe Kid, take it easy.”

She barely heard the voice over her ragged gasps for air, but she still recognized it. She managed to wheeze, “How’d you,” _gasp_ , “know?”

Natasha smirked, “I was up early and FRIDAY told me you were in here. That, and I figured you would come here. I know you kid.”

Melanie slowly moved to her side, sitting down with a wince, “I’m good.” Even she could hear the weakness in that statement, and how she looked definitely didn’t help. She pushed her fly away hair back, not meeting Natasha’s eyes. She noticed that Nat was wearing a grey hoodie, her hair down and wavy from sleep.

Nat sat down across from her, raising her eyebrow, “Really? So you didn’t just run yourself to hell for five minutes straight?” She clasped her hands together over her half bent legs, waiting for Melanie to respond.

Melanie couldn’t help the smirk that came out, “Four. The song was only four minutes. And I was running just normally for at least ten minutes before you showed up.”

Natasha laughed, shaking her head for a moment, “What’s going on, Kid?”

“I just need to stop thinking,” she dropped back, wincing as every breath felt like someone was forcing sand down her throat. “And running,” she huffed, “is the best way to clear your head. Especially,” she propped herself up on her elbows, “with music.” The curved position did not help her lungs in the slightest, so she laid back down on the track.

“Agreed, although doing it without water or you know, being at all prepared, is kind of stupid,” Natasha shrugged simply.

“I stretched!” Melanie shouted indignantly towards the ceiling.

“For what, five minutes?”

“Still counts.” She pointed out, thankful that her breaths had started to slow and the weight was slowly leaving her chest. Natasha stood, appearing in her view and held out a hand, “Come on, you need water, and to walk it off. You can’t go from sprinting like that to laying down, your body is gonna kill you.”

Melanie took her hand, letting her aunt pull her onto her feet. Her vision swam before her eyes for a moment, and she stumbled, “Head rush.” Nat waited patiently for her to open her eyes for them to start walking. They made it to the nearest bench, and Melanie sat down, groaning.

“I’ll grab you some water quick, and then we gotta start walking.”

Melanie shook her head, “No, I need to run, or target practice, something.” She stood up, ignoring how shaky her legs were and smiled at Nat, “I’ll be good. I’ll take the water though.”

Natasha rolled her eyes, calling over her shoulder, “So what are you running from?”

Melanie laughed, “I couldn’t sleep so I figured I’d throw myself into this instead. Who says I’m running from anything?”

Natasha made her way over, water bottle in hand, “I’m not buying it. I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that this about tomorrow?” She handed it to Melanie, watching her carefully for any sign of agreement.

Melanie tipped her drink towards Nat, “What gave that away?” The water rushed down her throat, soothing the fiery burn there instantly. She put the bottle down and shook her head, “I get it, but, doesn’t mean I want to do it.”

Natasha nodded slowly, “It’s only temporary, and you’re still going to be coming over here.”

“Until school, because then it’s only evenings,” she pointed out. “And even then, the evenings are going to be short because we’ll have school the next morning.” Natasha smiled to herself, causing Melanie to roll her eyes. “What? I know you’re thinking of something and you’re not telling me.”

“You seem kind of stuck on the negative.”

She glared half-heartedly, “If you’re gonna tell me to look on the bright side—”

“Think about it. You want to get some publicity before you come out to the world, this is exactly that. You’re moving in with a guy that you clearly like.” Melanie moved to protest, but Natasha just gave her a glare, “Don’t pretend it’s not true. What, you think we haven’t noticed the new necklace?”

Melanie subconsciously reached for it, her fingers coming in contact with her bare skin. She’d taken it off before working out. Her dad had asked about it, and she'd given him the short version of the story. She knew the others had noticed, but she had a feeling her dad had told them since they'd kept to themselves. She sighed, “Fine, it’s not all negative. It’s still weird though.” She gestured around the room, “I’ve been here for the past, ten years, and now I’m up and moving to Queens with a few days notice?”

Nat sighed as they came to a stop, back where they started on the track, “Yeah, that’s about it.” She gestured over to the sparring mat, “Still feel like training?”

Melanie nodded, “Yeah, just let me wrap my wrists.” She walked to the side of the room, pulling open one of the lockers and grabbed the bands from inside. She glanced over at Nat, watching her do the same, pulling off her hoodie and tying her hair up. Melanie called, forcing her eyes back to her hands, “You really think it won’t be that bad?”

Melanie could hear the smile in Natasha’s voice, “I think it’ll be better than you expect.” She sighed, turning to her aunt, wrists wrapped, nodding slowly. Natasha smiled at her, “It’ll be good, I promise. And if you absolutely can’t stand it, I promise I will bring you back here, even if your dad disagrees, okay?”

Melanie laughed, welcoming the happiness with opened arms. She nodded, “Okay.” Natasha nodded over to the sparring mat, and the two pulled themselves up, getting in their positions. Nat opened her mouth to speak, but Melanie called over her, “I know, don’t go for the obvious hit.”

Natasha grinned with pride, lifting her fists, and gestured Melanie forwards, “Let’s go then.”

....

May nodded approvingly at the doorway to Peter’s room, “Looks good.” He’d cleaned it up quite nicely, picking up everything from the floor and organizing his desk, he’d even cleared her a space on the wall so she could put her own pictures. Both the top and bottom bunk were made, and May sighed, “You know, if Ben was here, he’d call me crazy for letting you two stay in the same room.”

Peter smiled over his shoulder as he pushed a bin back under his bed, “It was this, or I’d be taking the couch for the next few weeks.”

“I’ll have you know that I was thinking about it,” she teased. “I better get Best Aunt Ever written on my next birthday card for this. Do you know how many teenagers would love to share a room with a girl they’re crazy for?”

“What?” Peter wheeled around, staring at his aunt in the doorway, “Where’d, where did that come from?” He inwardly winced at how pitchy his voice was. He _really_ needed to get better at controlling it.

“Oh come on Pete, you gave her a necklace for her birthday, you talk about her all the time, and I caught the whole ‘holding hands under the table’ thing. I was young and in love once too, you know. And you know what Ben did? He asked me out the exact same day that we met, none of this texting and talking and being a ‘thing’.”

“That’s, I—”

“I’m just saying, you should get a move on that.” His aunt gave him a smile, her eyes glossed over slightly, but her smile was still genuine. Losing Ben had been the hardest thing they’d gone through; it had taken his aunt a long time to be able to talk about him without crying. And he was happy for her, proud that they could talk about him and laugh. They’d gotten through it.

He laughed, making sure to make his voice as sarcastic as possible, “Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“She definitely likes you, Pete. I’ve got a tingle about it.” She left the room with a grin, laughing at Peter’s look of exasperation.

“Please, don’t say that when Melanie’s around,” he called after her, dragging his hand through his hair. His phone buzzed on his dresser, and he shook his head as he made his way over. He checked the text from Melanie,

**Melanie: Hey, just about ready to head out here**

**Peter: Sounds good, see you soon?**

**Melanie: Yeah, be there in a bit**

**Melanie: Thanks again for doing this**

**Peter: Of course :) You okay?**

**Melanie: Yeah, it feels odd saying goodbye, but I think it'll be good. It's gonna be weird**

**Melanie: But good :)**

**Peter: I think so too**

Peter checked around his room one last time, making sure that everything was in its place and nodded to himself. He closed the door behind him as he made his way into the kitchen. He tipped his phone towards May, “She’s heading over.”

“Alright,” she laughed quietly, “So this is actually happening. We’re gonna be good, right, like this is gonna work out?”

He nodded, a smile on his face, “Yeah, we’ll be good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, it's happening!!!  
> YAY  
> Lots of fluff to come, including the next chapter :)))))   
> I'm very excited to write it since I KNOW what's going to happen, unlike this one which was a complete mystery  
> Also please forgive me for casually dismissing Christmas... it was too much to write about (would have been at least another two chapters)   
> Thank you for reading, please tell me what you think!!   
> Love and appreciate every single one of you :)  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	15. My World is a lot Bigger With You in it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely readers!!  
> I think this is the first time in a while that I've actually updated within a week?? And I am very happy with this chapter!!  
> Y'all we hit 200 kudos  
> I don't even have words to describe that. Thank you guys so much, from the bottom of my heart. Every time I check my dashboard, I'm shocked. Y'all are the best  
> ANYWAYS (I needed to throw in some unnecessary capital letters)  
> This chapter.... :)))))))))) *mischievous smile*  
> That was my reaction to writing it, and I hope it is a similar reaction for when y'all read it!!  
> Onto the chapter!!!

It felt very odd for Melanie to unpack her boxes of things into Peter’s room. Saying goodbye to her dad and the-woman-who-was-basically-her-mother, had also been odd. She’d forced herself not to cry. She could handle it. She’d be seeing them in two days for her interview with the school.

That, and she wasn’t a fan of being emotional.

So she and Peter had started the process of moving in. She appreciated his chattiness and upbeat attitude more than ever right then. He helped her set up her desk space alongside his own, gave her half of the closet to hang up her clothes, and cleared a space for extra boxes.

They finished enough of the unpacking for the time being. She packed light considering they had no idea how long she’d be away for, and if she needed anything else she could always go grab more on her visits to the tower.

Since her and Peter were officially playing the part of Interns, her dad gave them actual badges and lab coats for when they were at the Lab. They had the highest clearance, but their IDs looked the same as every other intern. They left the IDs on the desk and hung up the coats, leaving the two of them to sit on the bottom bunk, staring at the room.

“This is definitely gonna take some getting used to,” she laughed, staring around the much smaller room than hers. The navy blue walls had Star Wars posters and pictures hung all around, but he’d left her a section across from the bed to hang her own.

Above the desk there was a large cork board almost covered in photos, notes, ticket stubs and pins. She stood from the creaky bed, smiling softly as she looked over the cork board. There were a few Star Wars tickets pinned together near the top corner, and just underneath there was a yellow note scrawled in Peter's handwriting, 'lab report due monday'. A lot of the photos had May and Peter in them, and even more had Ned and Peter. She saw one of her dad and Peter, presumably the day he got the internship, and she laughed at their attempt at bunny ears.

She reached up, carefully pushing the corner of a curled photo back. In the picture, there were three students in mustard yellow jackets. The middle one was Peter, the one on the right was Ned, but she didn’t recognize the girl on the left. Peter spoke up, “That’s MJ, Michelle. I think you’d like her. She’s kind of weird, but in a good way,” he clarified hurriedly.

Melanie bit her lip to hide a smile, “I figured you meant it in a good way. I don’t think you’ve ever said a bad thing about anybody.”

Peter shrugged, “Not really a point in being mean.”

Melanie couldn’t help the laugh that came out, her shoulders shaking as she tried to hold it in. “You know,” she glanced over her shoulder at him, “I think you’ve got a bigger hero complex than Steve. And he’s literally Captain America.” She turned to face him, her tone suddenly serious, “You’re too good. I don’t know how.”

He laughed, shrugging his shoulders as he turned away from Melanie. He could feel the heat creeping into his cheeks as he spoke, “Well, when you can do the things that I can, and you don’t, and _then_ the bad things happen, they happen because of you. Knowing that I have a chance to be better and help people, I have to.” He sat down on the bed, smiling at her, “Same reason you want to be the next Ironman.”

She nodded slowly, leaning back against the desk, “Yes and no. I want to be the next Ironman because it’s my responsibility, and I have the ability to. But I’m not _good_ like you are.”

“What?” Peter frowned, “What are you talking about?”

Melanie stared at the ceiling as she sighed, “I don’t know. You look at the world and you go in to make it a better place. You think about Spiderman as a way to help, a way to bring out the good. I see Ironman as being necessary to stop the bad, a way to fight the darkness. There’s a difference.”

Peter stared at her, slowly shaking his head, “I don’t think they’re as different as you think. In the end, both want the good to win.”

She smiled at him, letting out a happy sigh, “Just proving my point. Not that there is anything wrong with fighting for the good. Honestly, it’s more impressive if anything. I just think that there are two kinds of superheroes, those that fight for the good, and those who fight against the bad.”

“That’s the same thing!” He laughed indignantly. Melanie shook her head, a smile locked firmly on her face and she glanced around the room. Her eyes were drawn to the blank wall across from the bed, and she asked, “Wanna see the pictures, I brought?”

She pulled open one of the boxes, grabbing the stack of photo frames from inside. She’d forced herself to only grab four pictures, and she was very happy with her selection. The first was of her, her dad and Pepper from a few birthdays ago. In the picture she was between the two of them, all making silly faces.

Peter laughed as she showed him the second one. Melanie had taken a selfie with Clint, both of them pointing over their shoulders. In the background, Natasha was standing over Steve’s falling form on the sparring mat.

The third photo was of Natasha, Melanie, Clint and Rhodey, all holding up their paintball guns in a Charlie’s Angels pose. Rhodey and Melanie were covered in paint, but Natasha and Clint looked pretty unscathed. Melanie grinned, “Yeah, Rhodey and I lost that match pretty badly. It’s kind of unfair to put Nat and Clint on a team though.”

The final photo was one taken by Pepper. Tony and Melanie were standing next to each other at a lab bench, both with blue holograms dancing in front of them. Their positions were exactly the same. Both were leaning on their outside arm, the other was reaching for the bag of blueberries, and they had the same calculating look on their face.

Peter smiled, “Wow, you and your dad,” he trailed off, making Melanie laugh. They looked absolutely nothing alike. Her dad’s slightly tanned skin and dark eyes went directly against hers. She was the type of person who burned in sunlight rather than tan, and her ice blue eyes matched her mother’s. She looked nothing like him, yet they were so alike in every other way.

Peter frowned, leaning over to the box at her feet, “What’s that one?” He picked up another white frame, and Melanie quickly recounted her photos. She’d only grabbed four. Someone must have slipped another one in.

As he flipped it around, it became much more obvious who put the extra photo in. Melanie dissolved into laughter as Peter’s face burst into flames. The photo was from the first day they met. The lovely picture that was taken, just after the web shooter exploded. “That would have to be from Clint. No one else would do that,” she said between laughs.

“That had to be the worst first impression ever, oh my god,” Peter shook his head with a rueful smile. Melanie looked over the picture again, wincing at the memory.

She placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him her most reassuring smile, “It’s really not that bad. I mean, if that had been the first time my dad met you, then yeah, it wouldn’t have gone well, but it was just… the Avengers. And you have to admit,” she was slowly breaking into giggles, “it’s kind of funny.”

He shook his head, giving her an indignant smile, “For you, maybe. I had to deal with them while you went to take a shower.”

“And you think I got away unscathed? You were there when we played Mario-Kart!”

“Those jokes were all directed at me,” Peter cried, his voice cracking on him. He could still hear Clint’s jokes; they hadn’t been easy to forget. Melanie shoved him lightly, shaking with silent laughter as she looked over the photo. She glanced up at the cork board and gave Peter a crooked smile, "Does this make the board?"

Peter laughed, "You want to hang it up?"

Melanie shrugged as she stood, making her way to the board, "I think it's the only picture we have together." She spun to face him, "Hold on, this is the _only_ picture we have together? How?"

"Um, because up until very recently, you never left the tower? And you were a complete secret? We couldn't exactly take any pictures together."

She nodded slowly as she pinned the picture into place, "Okay, fair point." Peter laughed at the unwilling tone in her voice, watching as she stepped back from the board. As her gaze was on the board, he found himself smiling. Everything about her made him smile. From the way she had her head tilted just slightly to the right, to the way her nose crinkled when she smiled. He heard May's voice in his head, _get a move on that._

He pulled himself from his thoughts as she made her way over to the bed and put the frames back in the box, letting out a content sigh as she did. Maybe Nat was right. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe it would be better than she expected.

But that only lasted until it was bedtime. Peter had graciously given Melanie the bottom bunk to avoid her having to go up and down the ladder, and Peter genuinely didn’t mind. Ever since the spider bite, he’d enjoyed sleeping higher up. Sometimes he’d make himself a web hammock.

May had briefly popped her head in to tell them that she was going to bed, and the two teens realized how late it had gotten. Melanie changed in the bathroom while Peter changed in their room, and Melanie forced herself not to freak out as she knocked on the bedroom door. Peter had let her in, wearing a fitted grey tee with plaid pajama pants.

Somehow, he made it work. She forced herself to keep her gaze off his arms, especially where the shirt hugged his bicep, instead giving him a smile.

She caught his surprised look at her pair of shorts, but she’d shrugged and told him that she hated sleeping in pants. He didn’t question her and was quickly laughing at her oversized Captain America shirt, emblazoned with the iconic shield. Her dad had bought it for her a few years back. Needless to say, Steve was surprised when she’d worn it to breakfast the next morning.

They said their goodnights before Peter effortlessly pulled himself onto the top bunk, and then Melanie was drowning in silence. The silence was heavy and awkward, even though she knew in the back of her mind that it was just her thinking that. She tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable spot, and then her phone had gone off.

She didn’t realize how badly her eyes would sting at a simple goodnight text from her dad. She sent a reply, turning off her phone and struggled to force down the sizable lump in her throat. Her eyes burned and she blinked back her tears vehemently; she was 17. She could handle this.

But the way the minutes kept going by on the alarm clock said different. Her early morning workout had her exhausted, but she couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned, pulled the blankets over her head, kicked them off completely, but nothing worked.

She didn’t like the way the walls were looming over her and seemed to get closer with every glance. She didn’t like the weight that had settled in her chest, or the painful lump in her throat that refused to be dislodged.

She sat up suddenly, raking her hands through her hair and forced a slow, deep breath into her lungs. She whispered, her voice piercing the silence of the room, “Peter?” at first there was no reply. No shifting of the blankets, no creak from the rickety bed frame, and Melanie had thought she was really alone.

But then Peter silently eased himself over the rail, dropping to the wooden floor without a sound. His hair was pushed up on one side from how he was lying, but he didn’t look like he’d just woken up. “What’s up?” He asked quietly, coming to sit on the edge of the bed.

“I can’t sleep,” she mumbled, wrapping her arms around her half bent legs and squeezing. She stared pointedly at the navy comforter, “I’m just not used to this, and it’s kind of freaking me out.” She started playing with the blanket in her hands, “I look up and the walls are practically closing in, and then my dad texted me and it just made me realize that he’s not down the hall from here and I can’t go talk to him—” she cut herself off, driving another deep breath into her lungs. “And the other part of me is thinking I’m 17, I should be able to handle this—”

“No, don’t do that to yourself, okay? Remember a few weeks ago, you had your first sleepover ever?” She nodded stiffly, her gaze still firmly locked on the blanket. She felt his hand graze her arm, and her eyes instantly jumped to his. Even in the darkness, they were warm, soft, “Most kids get their first sleepovers when they’re eight, and they don’t make it through the night. Getting homesick is a thing that doesn’t go away, but it gets easier to deal with. This is your first time being away from home.”

She smiled at him, hating the way her eyes burned with tears, “So it gets easier?”

He nodded, “Yeah, it gets a lot easier.”

“Thanks, Peter,” she gave him her best attempt at a smile.

Peter’s voice was hesitant, “I can stay with you, if you want.”

“Really?” She hated the hope in her voice. _How needy could she sound?_ She hadn’t asked for anyone to stay the night with her in years, and now Peter, the guy she was crushing on was going to. She’d never felt more childish, “You don’t have to, it’s fine. I’m fine.”

Peter could just barely make out her features in the darkness of the room, and he realized the darkness would be the perfect cover. He closed his eyes, steeling up his nerves and forced the words out before he could become too chicken to say them, “Remember what you said to me, that day in the elevator? That when someone understands, it makes the world seem a little less small?”

“Yeah, I remember.” She felt a smile tug at her lips at the memory.

She felt him shift closer on the bed, his hand still firmly locked on hers. His voice was hesitant but close. So close, she could feel his breath on her skin, “My world is a lot bigger with you in it.” Her breath hitched in her throat as she realized just how class he’d gotten. “Melanie, when I walked into Stark Industries that first day and I saw you, I had no idea what you would become. And you were so easy to talk to, and then we played 20 questions, and we started talking outside the lab. You became the first person I thought of in the morning and the last person on my mind when I went to sleep.

“And you’re amazing, and funny, and you don’t care that I’m Spiderman, and every time you call me Parker I swear I forget to breathe. And I know I’m rambling, but I just, I wanted to tell you this for a while, but I,” he took a deep breath, forcing himself to slow down. “I really like you.”

There was a beat of silence, and for a moment, Peter was terrified. But then there was a pair of hands pulling him in, and a set of lips pressed against his own. She pulled away from him, just enough for her to whisper, “I really like you too.” And she tugged him in again. His hands moved of their own accord, wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer. She invaded his senses. Every breath was Melanie, every touch. The feeling of her fingers, feather light and drawing tantalizing shapes on the back of his neck sent shivers down his spine.

She held onto him as close as she could, wanting to drag this moment out. Her heart felt like it might explode out of her chest as his frame pressed against her own. _Was this what flying felt like_? Pure joy and freedom, a complete loss of inhibitions. Every worry she had went out the window in that moment.

Peter could feel his blood pumping in his ears, beating out a rapid rhythm, but under his hands, her heart pounded, even faster than he thought possible. His heightened senses picked up on everything; from her heartbeat sending tremors through his fingers, to her lips, perfectly soft, moving against his own. Her ice cold fingers wrapped around his neck, carefully running through the curls at the nape, pulling him even closer. He heard the hitch in her breath as his hands gripped her waist, and he forced himself to let go just a little. God, she was so intoxicating that he was losing his control on his abilities.

They pulled apart to breathe, keeping their foreheads pressed together, their lungs desperate for air. Melanie didn’t let him pull away, not yet. She carefully trailed her hand from his neck and down his arm, his muscles tensing under her fingers. She finally found his hand, and they locked their fingers together seamlessly. “My world is a lot bigger with you in it too,” she whispered, her lips still tingling. She stared at him in wonder, “You know, I was starting to think we would never get the chance.”

His laughter sent a smile straight onto her face, her heart flipping in her chest. She ran her fingers through his hair, pulling away just enough to look at him, a lazy smile on her lips, “You’re like no one I’ve ever met.”

He grinned, “So does this mean you want me to stay?”

She rolled her eyes, pulling him in for another kiss. Her words were muffled against his lips, “Don’t get cocky, Parker.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK FREAKING GOD  
> IT HAPPENED  
> This has been a long time coming, and I hope hope hope hope it was worth it!! Please let me know what y'all thought.  
> I appreciate every single one of you, love you all 3000, and can't wait for the next chapter!!  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


	16. Author's Note and a One Shot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyy guys....  
> It's been a minute, right??  
> I'm sorry

**A/N: Hey guys, so I have a chapter written-ish but I’m not super happy with it. And if I’m not happy with it, I doubt you guys would be either. So instead of putting that out, I’m just giving you guys a little heads up. I'm really struggling with this one, so if anyone has any advice on how to write couples instead of just pining for one another, I would greatly appreciate it!!**

**I's so sorry that I'm this behind on things, my school week is getting kind of crazy with how fast things are going, so this has been a REAL struggle. I've been trying with it for weeks.**

**But this isn’t all just a boring authors note because THAT would be even more disappointing, so I wrote the beginnings of a one shot that doesn’t have anything to do with the story, it’s more so just a cute little one shot that I’ve been wanting to write that doesn’t fit into the timeline I’ve planned out. And if I ever hit a roadblock again, I will continue it! (I'll probably continue it anyway)  
**

**So, here’s what would happen if Melanie, Peter, Ned and MJ decided to go camping, and the Avengers tagged along.**

………………..

Tony groaned as he watched Pepper pack her bag, “Why are we going _camping_? Why are we traveling just to go lie in the dirt when we could literally travel and rent hotels in every corner of the world? Seriously, it won't even make a dent in my bank account.”

“Because Melanie and her friends are going and she asked if we wanted to come. And I think she’d like it if we actually hung out with her friends. She’s trying to put her two families together.”

“Yes, but it’s her and Peter being all _cuddly_ , and then Ned always freaks out every time one of us talk to him, and I never know what to say to MJ.”

Pepper smiled, zipping her bag closed, “Then this is the perfect opportunity for you to one, accept that your daughter is in a relationship with probably the nicest kid I’ve ever met. Two: talk to Ned enough so next time he won’t freak out, and _three_ , understand MJ better.” Tony groaned as she tossed an empty bag at him, and gave him a firm glare, “Pack a bag.”

…

The Avengers stood in the living room, each of them holding a bag and waiting for Melanie and Peter. Convincing each in turn had been amusing, Sam and Steve had agreed almost instantaneously, Natasha had taken some convincing. Her dad had been a whole other problem, but Bruce, Pepper, Rhodey and Clint had been all for it.

Melanie zipped her backpack shut, tossing it over her shoulder and grabbed her phone. She glanced up at Peter, “Alright Ned and MJ are on their way here, we’re meeting them in the garage to split into cars. Are you good?”

“Yeah. Do you think we’re forgetting anything?”

Melanie shook her head, “I doubt it. Between us and the _crazy well-prepared_ Avengers out there, I think we’re good.”

Peter laughed, grabbing Melanie’s hands, “I still think this is crazy. No one would believe us if we said we were going camping with the Avengers. Ned will probably have a heart attack.”

“So will MJ,” Melanie giggled.

Peter frowned, “What? Why would she freak out?”

“You’re joking, right?” Melanie watched her boyfriend for a moment, waiting for his look of confusion to pass, but it never did. “Pepper and Nat are two of her heroes. They’re both strong females in a male dominated world and doing it with style.”

Peter nodded slowly, “Okay yeah, that makes sense. You let them know that they were coming, right?”

Melanie rolled her eyes, “I’m not that crazy. I feel like it would rude to bring an extra eight people without warning.” She went onto her toes, giving him a chaste kiss, “Speaking of, we should probably go and wrangle the troops. We’ve got a three hour car ride ahead of us.”

Peter laughed, letting her lead him out of the room and down the hall to the waiting Avengers. Melanie called, “Who’s ready to go camping?” She was met with a series of chuckles around the room, and dropped her bag to her feet. “Well, with that roaring enthusiasm, time to divvy up into cars. So, Steve, Sam, Nat, Clint, you’re in car one. Rhodey, Dad, Pep, and Bruce you’re in a car. And then me, Pete, MJ and Ned are together.”

Tony cleared his throat, “Um, why don’t we just fly there? We could get there in half an hour with my jet.”

“Because we’re camping and we’re doing it the way normal people do it,” Melanie didn’t miss a beat. “That means road tripping.”

Pepper smirked at Tony, “We could all use a little more normalcy in our lives.” She turned to Peter and Melanie, “Your friends on their way?”

“Yeah, they should be here any minute now. We said we’d meet in the garage.” The group shuffled into the elevator, packed in tightly with the added baggage. Peter’s hand wordlessly found her own, giving it a firm squeeze the moment he noticed her forcibly slowed breaths.

The second his hand slipped into hers, she felt a wave of calm run through her. Elevators didn’t feel so small when Peter was with her. FRIDAY bid them farewell as they exited the elevator, entering the large, echoing garage. They swapped support the second the doors opened.

Now Melanie was comforting Peter. Thankfully, he’d gotten a lot better with garages and exposed concrete, especially when he wasn’t alone. The chatter of the Avengers made the room seem much less intimidating, but the bouncing of their voices was giving him a slight headache. Melanie slipped a case into his hands, confusing him for a moment before he opened his hand.

He gave her a thankful smile as he popped the altoid container open, discreetly sliding in the mufflers they’d designed. It cut the echo out, helping his shoulders relax as he only heard the dialogue once with no bounce back.

The garage door on the far side opened, MJ’s old car looking far too out of place amongst the Audi’s and insanely expensive luxury cars. They pulled into the nearest parking space, Ned and MJ getting out and waving to the awaiting group.

Melanie and Peter met their friends halfway, laughing at Ned’s excitement and MJ’s reserved expression being used to hide her inner freak-out. Tony groaned from behind them, “It still freaks me out that teenagers have access to my garage.”

Melanie whirled around, her eyebrow arched perfectly, “Yeah, because that would be such a bad thing, wouldn’t it, Parker? Teenagers having access to the entire Tower. Only an idiot would let that happen.”

Tony sent her a swift glare, while Pepper struggled to contain her laughter, “She’s definitely your kid.”

Peter laughed, “That’s why we have them in two separate cars. That much sarcasm for three hours,” he shook his head, grinning at Melanie’s offended look.

MJ rolled her eyes, “So we get to watch you two flirt for three hours? Because that’s better.”

“Even though that was slightly directed at me,” Melanie grinned, “I have to commend the come back.” They clapped hands with a laugh before Melanie turned to the larger group, “Alright, are we ready to go?”

Natasha gave a forced smile, “As ready as we’ll ever be it seems. Everyone knows where we’re going?”

“Road trip snacks first, so the nearest gas station, and then we’re really heading out.”

Tony pointed at his daughter with an approving nod, “Yes. I vote road trip snacks.”


	17. This Could Totally Be A Movie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO READERS  
> IT IS FINALLY DONE  
> HOLY CRAP  
> THAT WAS THE HARDEST THING IVE EVER DONE  
> Anyways, calmly now, thank you thank you thank you. Your patience and support has been incredible and I don't deserve y'all. The past week has been crazy with my drama class having performances and rehearsals and all that, but the good news is, I'm off next week so HOPEFULLY, I can get another chapter done in time before school starts up again.  
> I'm actually pretty happy with this one, hope none of you hated me too much after the last one :(  
> Again, I apologize  
> BUT ANYWAY  
> Onto the chapter!!

The knock on the door woke them up. Melanie lifted her head enough to see that the door was still closed, and it took her mind a moment to catch up. The walls, ceiling, layout was all different. The bed beneath her was different. Confusion flooded her brain for a minute, warning signals flashing in her mind, but the mumbled, ‘morning’ beside her brought back all the memories.

There had been quite a few kisses after the first one. But after that, they'd somehow found a way to cuddle together, which had taken some serious trial and error. With all of the nervous giggles, and awkward moments in between, they'd found the position that worked best for them. She looked over to her right, and warmth rushed through her, settling in her chest contently. His eyes were still closed, his arm still securely around her waist and holding her close. His curls were slightly on the wild side, and she found herself smiling.

Peter Parker was really there, holding her in his arms. She’d fallen asleep easily once she was with him. Despite being solid muscle, his chest was very comfy to sleep on; his steady heartbeat was the lullaby that sent her to sleep. She gently shook his shoulder, “Peter, we need to get up.” He blearily opened his eyes, giving her a tired smile.

“Good morning.”

The low tone in his sleepy voice nearly had her falling for him all over again. She grinned as she pushed herself up from his chest, “Good morning. May called us for breakfast.” Peter propped himself up onto his elbows, a smile spreading across his lips.

“What are you smiling about?” She asked, noticing as his gaze followed her movements.

“I’m just happy” He shrugged simply, getting up off the bed first. He adjusted his shirt, watching as Melanie moved to the edge of the bed and pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. She smiled at him as she lowered her arms, and he offered her a hand. She took it, letting him effortlessly pull her to her feet, leaving them toe to toe. There was another knock on the door, and this time it popped open.

May poked her head in, “Hey, you’re up. How’d you guys sleep?”

Melanie dropped her hand from Peter’s, but she held his gaze as she answered, “It was a little tough at first, but after that I slept great.” She turned to May, not failing to notice the look in her eyes. She couldn’t place it, but she knew it meant _something_.

May sent her swift look to Peter, who knew exactly what it meant, and nodded slowly, “That’s good. You two going to be good for today?”

Peter nodded, “Yeah, I thought I could show her around Queens, check out the school and everything.”

May smiled, “That sounds like it’ll be fun. Okay, breakfast is on the table, but I’ve got to head out. It’s Mr. Walters birthday today, turning 98. We’re setting up the party in the hall, and if I don’t get there soon, Beth is going to kill me.”

She quickly tugged Peter in for a hug, kissing the top of his head, “Love you.” She smiled brightly at Melanie, “I hope you’re okay with hugs.” In seconds she pulled her in, her embrace the perfect blend of tight and comforting. She stepped back, “Alright, have fun. Make good choices, and don’t die.” She turned out of the room, disappearing down the hall and Melanie found herself smiling.

“I can totally see it.”

“See what?” Peter asked, listening to the door of their apartment close behind his aunt.

“Where you get it from. She’s just a really caring person. I can totally see where you got your drive to help people, it’s from her.”

Peter smiled, nodding, “She’s always been that way. She volunteers, works overtime constantly just to spend time with all of her favourite seniors. She used to drive Ben crazy with all of the events she’d drag us too,” his eyes went unfocused for a moment, but his smile didn’t fade. He shook his head, his grin still firmly in place, “They were really good together.”

She smiled at him, wishing she had something to say, but Peter just smiled, looking for a moment completely at ease. He gestured her out of the room, and they made their way into the kitchen, the scent of slightly burned waffles filling their noses. On the table, is a slightly lopsided stack sat the golden-brown delicacies that the Parkers only made on the weekends. To her credit, Peter thought, they weren’t as burnt as usual. His aunt was definitely improving.

He stepped around Melanie and grabbed the chair for her, gesturing for her to sit down. She laughed, thanking him and took her seat, “You’re pulling out all the stops, Parker.” He walked around the table, taking his seat on the other side.

Melanie glanced up at Peter and found herself smiling, “So, about last night.” She noticed the way his lips quirked almost instantly, and she fought down another grin, “I think we might have a problem.”

He looked up suddenly, his eyes round in worry, “What, what problem?”

“Nothing like that!” She assured quickly, “No, no problems like that. Just, more logistical issues. The first one is that our cover story was originally that I was a cousin staying with you guys, and something tells me that we’re not going to be able to play that off very well.”

Peter sagged with relief momentarily, but quickly quirked his head, “What if we just changed it to family friend? That way we’re not ‘related’ and we can still be,” he paused, his cheeks igniting in a fiery blush.

“This,” Melanie smiled with ease. “We can still be this. Okay, so that’s the first one, but the second one is a little bit bigger. May, and my dad.” She could only imagine how her dad would react to finding out that his daughter was in a relationship with the boy she was sharing a room with. Most of the scenarios ended with him taking her back to the tower with a long lecture on the way.

Peter’s eyes went wide as he came to the same conclusion she did- it would not end well. Melanie spoke softly, “I’ve been thinking about it, and what if we just pretended we weren’t when we’re around them? This way we can still be _this_ , except we would keep it on the down-low.”

Peter’s bemused smile sent the butterflies in her stomach into a frenzy, “I never pegged you as the rebel type.”

Melanie smirked, “To be fair, living in a tower that has the world’s smartest AI and _several_ superheroes in it didn’t really give me a lot chances to be a rebel. Plus, I didn’t really have a reason to until I met you.”

He started laughing, shaking his head as he lifted the glass to his lips, “I’m sure your dad would be thrilled to hear that.”

She rolled her eyes at him, twirling her fork around on the plate, “That’s the point. He _won’t_ know. At least until this all blows over.”

“You know this never ends well, right? Like every movie that people do this, it ends badly. There’s normally a happy ending after, but still.”

“Then we’ll just have to see how our story ends.”

After breakfast, as promised by Peter, he showed her around Queens, taking her all the way from his favourite sandwich shop, where she met the lovely Mr. Delmar and adorable Murph, to the school. He was telling tales of Spiderman the entire way. He seemed to have a story for nearly every alley and street they passed.

As her eyes widened again, he waved it off, “Honestly, it was fine. He barely got me.”

She nodded, not believing it, but decided to go with it anyways, “I find it mildly concerning how easily you brush off getting mugged.”

“ _I_ didn’t get mugged,” he said obviously. “I saw _someone else_ getting mugged and I stepped in.”

She gave him a look that was somewhere between concerned and sarcastic, “And yet you manage to top it by _willingly_ getting mugged and brushing it off even easier.” 

They got to the school and Peter pointed out the different wings, labs and the gymnasium and they made their way around to the track outside. As Peter turned the corner, he froze for a moment, his face falling. His hand tightened around Melanie’s, and he tried to pull her back, “Come on, we can go the other way—”

He was cut off by a voice yelling far too happily, “Yo, Penis Parker, is that you?”

Melanie rounded on Peter who she was struggling to stop in his desperate attempt to get away from the track, “Who the hell was that?”

A darker skinned boy rounded the corner, decked out in a complete set of Nike running wear. He pushed his black hair back, grinning at Peter, but it wasn’t a friendly grin. It was a grin that made Melanie’s skin crawl. Peter sighed as he turned around, protectively standing in front of her. “Flash,” he greeted, the usual politeness in his voice gone.

“What are you doing out here? Aren’t you gonna have an asthma attack in the cold? What, did _Tony Stark_ kick you out of his Tower?”

Melanie stepped out from behind Peter, making her presence known, “I’m sorry, who are you?”

Flash froze for a moment, but then his lips spread into a sly grin and he held out his hand, “Eugene Thompson, but everyone calls me Flash. _Who are you_?” His eyes raked up and down, and suddenly the jacket, sweater and button-down shirt Melanie was wearing did _not_ feel like enough layers.

“Melanie Au-austin,” she said stiffly, catching herself before she could add Stark.

“Melanie, huh? Well, Penis you didn’t tell me that your aunt had an even hotter younger sister.”

“Excuse me?” Melanie stepped forwards, but Peter held her back, his hand still locked firmly around hers.

He had to fight back the urge he had to shove Flash. First Melanie, then his aunt; Flash was _really_ toeing the line. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and sighed, “We don’t want to start anything, I was just showing her around the school.”

“Oh, you’re coming here?”

She spoke pointedly, “That’s the plan at the moment, yes.”

“Then I look forward to us having classes together,” he grinned with ease.

Before Melanie could disagree, Peter turned to her, his voice pleading, “Come on, we were just leaving.”

“No, stay a while. I want to know how you got _her_. She is way too hot for you.” At Melanie’s appalled look, he smiled, “Just calling it like it is, _Melanie_.” The same crawling feeling took over as he said her name.

“Flash, back off.” For the first time, Peter’s voice had an edge to it and Melanie had to stifle her flinch. In all the hours they’d spent talking, she never once heard the tone he had right then. His voice cut through their conversation like steel. Flash seemed to notice it too; his look of confidence wavered for the slightest of moments at Peter’s tone.

She noticed the way he was flexing his hand and she gently pulled him back, “Peter, come on.” Even though Melanie would have loved to watch the smirk fall from Flash’s lips, she knew Peter wouldn’t forgive himself. His hand curled tighter around hers and she fought down a wince.

Peter turned to Flash, his eyes sending daggers at the boy, “See you on Monday, Flash.” His words came out calmly enough, but Melanie kept her eye on his subconsciously curled fist. She felt his hand lock tighter around hers, her knuckles feeling like they were about to implode. They got far enough away, ignoring Flash’s taunting laugh that kept Peter’s hand firmly squeezing her own.

Once they got out of earshot, she dropped her façade of calm, “Ow, ow, oh my god, let go, I’m sorry, but—” instantly his hand released hers and she held it to her chest, trying her best to hide just _how much_ it hurt. To put it lightly, her hand felt like it’d been in a hydraulic press.

Peter’s emotions changed so fast; from physically burning with rage to caring for an injured puppy. Despite the hurt, it made her laugh at his instantaneous fussing and apologizing. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t even realize I was doing it, are you okay? I’m sorry, oh my god, I didn’t mean to.”

She shook her hand out with a wince, “I’m good, I’m okay, see?” She wiggled her fingers around, forcing her lips into a smile. She reached up, tilting his chin up to force him to look at her, “Hey, hey, I’m okay. You’ve just got a _really_ strong grip.”

“I’m so sorry,” he carefully grabbed her hand, his touch feather light like it was glass and he was scared of breaking it, and hesitantly kissed her knuckles, “I’m sorry.” He placed her hand back against his cheek, holding it as softly as he could.

She leaned in, suddenly remembering that she didn’t have to ignore the part of her that fell for Peter Parker. She pulled him down, their lips meeting halfway in a blissful kiss. This one was different, but still magical all the same. She stepped back, smiling at him, “We’re good.” She looked over her shoulder where the track waited behind them, and quirked her eyebrow, “Want to explain what that was?”

Peter sighed, “Not really, but I’m guessing you’ll make me.”

“You would be correct.”

He shrugged, “He’s just a jerk, really. Before the powers, I couldn’t stand up for myself. I couldn’t then so I shouldn’t now because I’m different. If it’s not me, then it’s someone else. At least I’m keeping him entertained and keeping some other kids off his radar.”

“Parker, I love your heroism, I do, but you should not have to put up with him. You are unbelievably good, and it’s amazing, but even you have to have your limits.”

“It’s really not a big problem, but thank you, I try,” he joked before his voice turned serious. “I’d rather me than anyone else. I know I can handle it.”

“Which is why you only told him off when he started talking about me,” she thought aloud. He nodded, his eyes on the ground, watching the pavement as they walked across the school. She started laughing as they walked, and shook her head at Peter’s look of concern, “Just thinking that it might be _way more_ like the movies then you guys all think.”

“What?”

“Oh come on, the high school jock, who’s nickname is _Flash_ by the way, picking on the ‘nerd’? That’s practically textbook high school movie.” Peter tried to argue, but she didn’t give him the chance, “Really? He has a nickname, is a jock based on the Letterman jacket I saw by his bag and the fact that he was training on the last two days of winter break, seems to be on the wealthier side of things—”

“Coming from the girl who is literally a billionaire.”

“Will you let me finish?” She glared at him mockingly, making Peter laugh even harder. “You can’t tell me that that doesn’t fit into the plot of every movie that had a story revolved around teenagers. And technically speaking, I’m just Melanie Austin, so no, I’m not a billionaire.”

“Really, just Melanie Austin today?”

“For the next few weeks actually, but yes. Just Melanie Austin. Is there a problem with that?” She smirked coyly.

“No, it’s just, well I really like this girl named Melanie Austin Stark, and I want to ask her to be my girlfriend, but I don’t know if she’d say yes.”

Melanie froze mid-step, her eyes snapping up to meet his, but he kept his chin down, his gaze locked somewhere between her shoes and her knees. She stepped closer hesitantly and lifted a shaky hand to his face, guiding his head up until his brown doe eyes met hers. She spoke softly, “You really think I wouldn’t say yes?”

“I know, with last night and all, but with the whole secret thing, and I don’t know, we kept saying _thing_ and—” He didn’t get to finish his sentence. And _thank god_ , because he had no idea what he was going to say. Melanie was suddenly there, her lips against his, and every coherent thought left his system.

She pulled away just enough to speak, “Yes. Already yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's slightly shorter, but I'm still relatively happy with it. Please let me know what y'all thought!!  
> Thank you for reading, and for being patient with my writer's block LOL  
> Love and appreciate you all <3<3,  
> ~DancingInTheDark282


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